DA sees no reason for new Binion probe

Wednesday, May 1, 2002 | 9:09 a.m.

District Attorney Stewart Bell, responding to a defense request to reopen the Ted Binion murder investigation, said Tuesday that Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish were rightfully convicted of killing the wealthy casino executive.

"This office is completely satisfied with the efficiency of the convictions, and we intend to defend those convictions before the Nevada Supreme Court," Bell told Murphy's lawyer, Herb Sachs, in a two-page letter.

Sachs last week urged Bell to reopen the high-profile case because of new evidence disclosed in a 1999 FBI wiretap affidavit pointing to other possible suspects in Binion's 1998 death.

But Bell told the Sun he saw no evidence in the affidavit that would warrant further investigation.

"In this case, there is no question that Tabish and Murphy are guilty of the murder of Ted Binion," Bell said in his letter to Sachs. "There is not a single person in the district attorney's office that has the slightest doubt about that."

Bell said after the well-publicized trial more than 1,500 members of the public contacted his office to say that "justice had been done, two guilty people had been convicted."

Only four people expressed an opinion that Murphy and Tabish were innocent, he said.

Sachs, however, Tuesday accused Bell of ducking his responsibility by not taking another look at the case in the face of the new possible evidence.

"He's not fulfilling his obligation to ensure that an injustice was not done," Sachs said. "He owes it to the people of this state to inquire if the contents of the FBI affidavit are true."

The 62-page FBI affidavit -- which sought permission to conduct wiretaps on a criminal organization that may have had knowledge of Binion's slaying -- was not made public until October, long after the murder trial.

Tabish attorneys want the FBI to turn over any documents supporting the affidavit so that they can file a motion to overturn his conviction based on newly discovered evidence.

A hearing on that matter has been set for May 10 before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, who Tuesday survived a challenge from defense lawyers to disqualify him from the case.