Murphy’s lawyers seek 30-day appeal extension

Monday, May 14, 2001 | 10:26 a.m.

Sandy Murphy's defense team plans to ask the Nevada Supreme Court for a 30-day extension to file her appeal brief, her lawyer said this morning.

Briefs for Murphy and Rick Tabish, who with Murphy was convicted in the 1998 slaying of Ted Binion, are due with the high court on June 13.

But Murphy attorney Herb Sachs said another month is needed to go over trial transcripts and court documents.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, who prosecuted Murphy and Tabish, said this morning he won't oppose the request for the 30-day delay.

Sachs said Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz, who is taking the lead role in the appeal, is pushing for the extension.

"He's told me he needs more time," Sachs said.

Sachs, meanwhile, said he has asked private detective Ted Gunderson to stop contacting prosecution witnesses until Gunderson resolves his troubles with the Nevada Private Investigator's Licensing Board.

"I've suggested that he doesn't do anything further until we straighten things out with the licensing board," Sachs said.

Gunderson, who once headed the Los Angeles FBI office, has come under fire for operating in Nevada without a license. He faces a citation and a fine if found to be in violation of state law.

In recent weeks Gunderson and another Murphy defense team member, John Prendeville, have been trying to interview prosecution witnesses. Some witnesses have complained about being harassed.

Prendeville is working for 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 three years.

Roger has accused the defense of trying to manipulate the witnesses in a desperate attempt to spring Murphy from prison, where she is serving a minimum of 22 years behind bars.

But the defense maintains it merely has been gathering information for the appeal and a possible motion for a new trial.

Murphy, 29, and Tabish, 36, were convicted last May 19 of killing Binion at his 2408 Palomino Lane home on Sept. 17, 1998. Prosecutors alleged the 55-year-old gambling figure was pumped with heroin and Xanax and then suffocated.