Binion estate lawyers counter Murphy’s challenge of house sale

Wednesday, May 16, 2001 | 10:30 a.m.

Ted Binion's estate lawyers filed court papers Tuesday opposing Sandy Murphy's bid to stop the sale of his $1.5 million Las Vegas home.

In their papers, Bruce Judd and Harry Claiborne said Murphy has no standing to interfere with the administration of the $55 million estate because of her conviction for killing the wealthy gambling figure in 1998.

The Binion lawyers charged that Murphy's attack on the estate is part of a desperate scheme to overturn her murder conviction from her prison cell.

"This court should not be unmindful of the media reports pertaining to Murphy's recent harassing activities, allegedly in support of her criminal appeal," Judd and Claiborne wrote.

"This court must not permit Murphy to use this probate proceeding to become a play thing as part of her criminal appeal."

The lawyers added that Murphy also has no evidence to support her claim that an accounting of the estate is necessary.

"Her revisionist history of the events after the time Murphy murdered Ted Binion should be considered nothing more than the desperate rambling of a murderess whose evil plan for acquiring wealth was thwarted in the courts of justice," they said.

The only way Murphy could hold up the sale of the 2408 Palomino Lane home, Judd and Claiborne said, is if she posted a $1.9 million bond as a potential creditor of the estate. The bond would cover the $1.5 million asking price for the home, plus the cost of keeping up the home through Murphy's lengthy appeal process.

Binion had willed Murphy the home, its contents and $300,000 in cash, but the Nevada Supreme Court ruled she was not entitled to her inheritance because of her conviction. At the time the will was drawn up in July 1998, the home was appraised at $900,000.

A jury in May 2000 found Murphy and her lover, Montana contractor Rick Tabish, guilty of pumping Binion with drugs and suffocating him at the 8,000-square-foot residence on Sept. 17, 1998.

In their papers, Judd and Claiborne also seek sanctions against Murphy's lawyer, Herb Sachs, for "scurrilously" claiming in court papers earlier this month that Binion's longtime friend and attorney, James J. Brown, improperly removed valuable items from the home.

"Murphy does not attach any evidence, let alone any admissible evidence to support her false allegation," the estate attorneys wrote.

Sachs this month said in his papers that there was a strong likelihood the Supreme Court would overturn Murphy's conviction, which would make her eligible once more to receive her share of the estate.

He asked District Judge Michael Cherry to stop the sale of the home and order an independent accounting of Binion's financial holdings. A hearing is set for May 30.