State board investigates Murphy team

Wednesday, May 2, 2001 | 11:32 a.m.

The stepped-up activities of Sandy Murphy's defense team have come under the scrutiny of the Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board.

The board is probing whether one of Murphy's investigators, Ted Gunderson, has been working without a Nevada license.

"At this time it's all just allegations," Carol Hanna, the board's executive director, told the Sun on Tuesday. "We're looking into it to see if we can get a better handle on it."

Gunderson, who lives in Las Vegas, is licensed as a private investigator in California. He once headed the Los Angeles FBI office and ran for president in 1996 as a member of the Independent American Party.

In recent weeks, Gunderson and another Las Vegas man, John Prendeville, have been contacting prosecution witnesses in the Ted Binion murder case looking for information that will help Murphy win a new trial.

Prendeville, who is not a private investigator, has put the word out that he's representing William Fuller, a wealthy 84-year-old mining executive who has shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars for Murphy's defense over the past two years.

The 29-year-old Murphy and her lover, 36-year-old Montana contractor Rick Tabish, were convicted May 19 of killing Binion at his Las Vegas home on Sept. 17, 1998.

Both defendants are appealing their convictions to the Nevada Supreme Court.

On Monday, after hearing a phone recording of Prendeville pressuring key prosecution witness Jason Frazer into helping the defense, Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger accused Murphy of "manipulating witnesses" from her prison cell.

New allegations, meanwhile, surfaced Tuesday, suggesting that Gunderson and Prendeville have been trying to dig up dirt on Murphy's former lawyers and investigators, as well as Roger and private detective Tom Dillard, who investigated Binion's death for his estate.

Former Murphy investigator Michael Wysocki, who is suing Fuller for $37,000 in fees, said he's been told that Gunderson and Prendeville have been asking questions about him.

"They can look all they want," Wysocki said. "I personally think it's a bunch of people trying to fleece William Fuller."

Fuller and Gunderson could not be reached for comment Tuesday or this morning, and Prendeville has referred comments to Murphy's appeal lawyer, Herb Sachs.

On Tuesday Sachs confirmed that Gunderson is Murphy's primary investigator and that Prendeville is assisting the defense.

He also acknowledged that the Irish-born Fuller is paying his legal fees.

Sachs said the probe by the private investigators board isn't likely to result in sanctions against Gunderson because Gunderson legally can work for his firm without obtaining a Nevada license.

And the Las Vegas lawyer, who said he's working on Murphy's appeal with Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz, denied that the defense team is investigating its former members.

But Sachs confirmed that he was spearheading an effort to determine whether Murphy could receive a new trial because of prosecutorial misconduct.

"We are looking into allegations there have been pressures put on certain witnesses to testify," he said.

Sachs added that the defense is trying to revive an argument that Dillard, who worked closely with Roger, improperly acted as an agent of the state and violated Murphy's constitutional rights.

Roger described the latest defense effort as "old news" previously discarded by District Judge Joseph Bonaventure prior to the well-publicized murder trial.

"They're wasting Bill Fuller's money because there's no substance to the allegations," Roger said.

Dillard also defended his actions.

"All I did was interview people, memorialize what they said, and turn it over to authorities," he said. "This is yesterday's news. It's just another way to get some more of the Irishman's money."

Gunderson, sources said, tried to contact Dillard's former office manager, Nataysha Doyel, who has been at odds with Dillard.

In March, theft charges against Doyel stemming from her employment with Dillard were dismissed after her lawyer accused Dillard of "dishonest" business practices. Dillard denied the allegations.

Roger said he has received calls over the last several weeks from key trial witnesses who complained that Gunderson and others representing Murphy were badgering them for interviews.

"I'm very troubled by the propriety of these phone calls," Roger said. "I question their motives."

Clothing salesman Christopher Hendrick, who provided important testimony about Murphy's state of mind prior to Binion's slaying, told Roger that Gunderson telephoned him wanting to arrange a meeting to discuss the case.

Gunderson also contacted Peter Sheridan, who supplied Binion with 12 balloons of black tar heroin the night before his death, Roger said.

Prosecutors alleged at the trial that Murphy and Tabish pumped Binion with heroin and Xanax and then suffocated him. Murphy was Binion's live-in girlfriend at the time.

Roger said Gunderson and another defense investigator also tried to visit Tabish's friend, Steven Kurt Gratzer, in jail in Missoula, Mont. Gratzer, who testified that Tabish tried to involve him in the plot to kill Binion, is facing drug possession charges in Missoula.

Two other trial witnesses, hair stylists Georgia Gastone and Michelle Gilliam, also informed Bonaventure that they received calls from Gunderson, Roger said.

The two hair dressers helped prosecutors at the trial corroborate Murphy manicurist Deanna Perry, who testified that Murphy predicted Binion would die of a drug overdose a week before his slaying.