Columnist Jeff German: Murphy’s team not ahead of the game

Friday, May 18, 2001 | 4:12 a.m.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com

BY NOW, it's pretty obvious that Sandy Murphy's defense team has been stirring things up the past couple of weeks in her bid to win a new trial.

But the consensus at the courthouse is the team has been spinning its wheels.

Even worse, it may be on a self-destructive course.

In the past two weeks, several key prosecution witnesses have complained about being harassed by defense team members.

One angry witness, Montana businessman Jason Frazer, obtained a temporary restraining order to stop Murphy's father, Kenneth, from contacting him.

Another man associated with the defense, John Prendeville, previously had informed Frazer that "Things will improve there back to you back in Montanta" if Frazer switched sides.

Prendeville is acting as the spokesman -- and some say bag man -- for William Fuller, the wealthy 84-year-old mining executive who has been bank-rolling Team Murphy.

Fuller is said to be totally enamoured with Murphy, and courthouse insiders believe he's been "sold a bill of goods" by the woman convicted of killing her former sugar daddy, wealthy casino executive Ted Binion.

At the trial, much was made of the "Binion Money Machine" pushing for the prosecution of Murphy and her lover, Rick Tabish. In the end, the jury that convicted the two defendants found no merit to that claim.

And the way things have turned out, the "Fuller Money Machine" has dwarfed whatever Binion wealth was poured into the prosecution.

Fuller reportedly has shelled out more than $1 million the past couple years for Murphy, and there seems to be no end to his deep pockets. Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz, for example, is said to have received a high six-figure retainer to call the shots for Murphy's appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

But Dershowitz remains a mystery figure in the case, refusing requests for interviews.

At the same time Murphy's lawyer, 71-year-old Herb Sachs, says he's in contact with Dershowitz's office in Boston on a daily basis.

Even Tabish's lawyer, William Terry, says he's coordinating his client's appeal with Dershowitz. Briefs are scheduled to be filed June 13.

But Terry, a candidate for district attorney, has distanced himself from the Murphy defense team. Word is he doesn't approve of the team's tactics that in his mind have done nothing but create negative publicity for the two convicted murderers.

Last week, there was more bad publicity for Team Murphy.

The Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board reported that it planned to issue a citation against Murphy investigator Ted Gunderson for working without a license. He faces a $2,500 fine.

Binion's estate lawyers also sought sanctions against Sachs for leveling a "scurrilous" attack on the gambling figure's longtime friend and attorney, James J. Brown, in court papers seeking to stop the sale of Binion's $1.5 million home.

Sachs shrugs off the criticism the defense team has been receiving.

"I don't think we're spinning our wheels," he says. "I don't fight windmills. I fight real things, and I think we've got a good shot at a new trial.

"I will fight all the way down the line, and I don't care if I step on any toes, whether it be a judge's or a prosecutor's."

As for his client's innocence, Sachs says: "There are many others in this case who have had more motive or more opportunity to commit the murder than my client."