Columnist Jeff German: New trial, but same old circus

Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.

There were plenty of new legal faces in court Monday when Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish appeared together for the first time in three years.

But it was the same old media circus, as District Judge Joseph Bonaventure held an hour-long hearing on live television to set an Oct. 11 date for the retrial of Murphy and Tabish on charges of killing Ted Binion in 1998.

The hearing was supposed to start at 9:30 a.m. but was held up a half-hour while Murphy and Tabish decided whether to change from their navy blue jail garb and chains into street clothes for the cameras.

Only in the Binion murder case -- where Murphy once spray-painted an electronic monitoring device on her ankle to match her courtroom outfit -- would something like this be the cause of a delay.

Tabish first went behind closed doors to change. His lawyers brought him a sport coat and a shirt and tie, but apparently forgot his pants. He was willing to wear those clothes over his inmate jumpsuit only if he was photographed from the waist up. When cameramen refused to go along with his request, he decided to remain in his jailhouse garb rather than start a new fashion trend at the courthouse.

The 31-year-old Murphy then was escorted by bailiffs to a back room and emerged 15 minutes later wearing a black pinstriped pants suit with an open-collar white shirt and matching black and white patent leather shoes. Her long brown hair, which fell to the middle of her back, was tied in a pony tail, and she was wearing dark oval glasses, making her look more like a conservative legal assistant than a onetime topless dancer accused of killing a colorful gambling mogul.

Contrary to her past demonstrative court appearances, Murphy was quiet and unassuming this time, never once whispering in the ears of her lawyers, breaking a smile or glancing at Tabish, the lover she had not seen in three years, across the table. The two were found guilty in 2000 of killing Binion, but their convictions were overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court in July.

What struck me the most about Monday's hearing was the number of lawyers in court. I counted eight attorneys around the defense table and two prosecutors, almost as many as the number of journalists covering the hearing.

In all Bonaventure has admitted 11 defense lawyers into the case, seven of whom work for Murphy, which has to be some sort of O.J. Simpson-like record for Nevada. Herb Sachs is listed as her local attorney of record while well-known Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin and two of his partners are listed as the lead trial attorneys. Also representing Murphy are Las Vegas lawyer Michael Cristalli and Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz and one of his associates.

Murphy herself couldn't afford this kind of legal talent. This is a woman who was living off the wealthy Binion at the time of his Sept. 17, 1998 death and had no independent income. Her legal bills reportedly are being paid by William Fuller, a mysterious 80s-something mining executive, who sat quietly in the back of the crowded courtroom.

Tabish's team of four new lawyers includes rabble-rousing San Francisco attorney J. Tony Serra and two of his partners. Joseph Caramagno has been added as local counsel.

None of the attorneys in court Monday participated in the first trial.

The pony-tailed Serra, a liberal rebel of the 1960s, probably described the demeanor of the hearing best when he told reporters afterwards that he noticed an "atmosphere of friendliness" inside the courtroom.

There was no talk of asking the sometimes vociferous Bonaventure to remove himself from the case, as some within the defense team had been threatening. And Bonaventure, with the cameras running, went out of his way to be polite to the defense, even considering a request, against his better judgment, to take Fridays off during the trial so that DeGuerin could teach law school classes in Texas.

I also heard courthouse chatter that the judge might release Murphy on bail next week over the strenuous objections of the two new prosecutors in the case, Christopher Lalli and Robert Daskas. Tabish is still serving prison time on extortion charges related to Binion's death and not eligible for bail.

When the hearing ended, the strait-laced Lalli and Daskas, in the tradition of their predecessors, District Attorney David Roger and District Judge David Wall, left quietly and avoided talking to reporters.

DeGuerin and Serra, as with their predecessors, John Momot and Louis Palazzo, held a news conference on the steps of the courthouse to attack the prosecution's case.

The faces were different, but it was the same old media circus.