Murphy stays mum after prison release

Erica D. Johnson

Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2003 | 11:11 a.m.

By the time Sandy Murphy was released from the Clark County Detention Center on Monday after posting $250,000 bail, a crowd of onlookers had gathered near several motels behind the jail, clapping and shouting her name.

Murphy didn't take much time to respond to the welcome.

The moment she emerged from the county jail's back door about 3 p.m., her father, Kenneth Murphy, put his arm around her and helped her into the back seat of a black Mercedes-Benz with dark tinted windows.

The car, which was driven by Murphy's mother, headed north on First Street through downtown Las Vegas.

Murphy, 31, was released after her benefactor, mining executive William Fuller, posted $250,000 in cash, according to jail officials and court records.

Murphy's release came less than four hours after District Judge Joseph Bonaventure set bail over the objections of prosecutors during a Monday morning hearing. Bonaventure did not place Murphy on house arrest.

District Attorney David Roger declined to comment on Bonaventure's decision.

Murphy is expected to remain out of custody for at least the next nine months while she and co-defendant Rick Tabish, 38, await an Oct. 11 retrial on murder charges in the 1998 slaying of gaming executive Ted Binion.

She will reside with her parents in Downey, Calif., and will commute to Las Vegas for visits with her legal team while out on bail, her attorneys said.

Kenneth Murphy said his daughter would be returning to the California home she grew up in, where the family has lived for 30 years. He said his daughter was known and "well respected" in that community.

Kenneth Murphy and his wife also have an apartment in the Las Vegas Valley.

Bonaventure set the bail with several conditions. Murphy was ordered not to have any contact with the Binion family and not to speak to any witnesses in the trial without her attorneys present.

Murphy was also ordered to stay away from the Binions' Horseshoe casino.

Becky Behnen, sister of Ted Binion, had no comment this morning on Murphy's release.

Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin, Murphy's lead attorney, said he had no doubt Murphy would adhere to the conditions set by the court and behave while out on bail.

Though Murphy was criticized for her nonchalant attitude during the first trial, DeGuerin told Bonaventure that his client was a changed woman.

"This is a different Sandy Murphy than the one that came before you four years ago," he said. "Four years in prison can bring a big dose of humility."

Bonaventure said he hoped the bail setting would mark a "fresh start" for Murphy, noting her past behavior.

"I'm hoping four years in prison has changed the cavalier attitude Ms. Murphy displayed the first time she was in my courtroom," he said.

Prosecutors had argued that Murphy should remain in custody in part because she now faces a harsher sentence. They said she poses a flight risk.

At the time her conviction was overturned, Murphy was serving a minimum sentence of 22 years in prison.

Chief Deputy District Attorneys Robert Daskas and Christopher Lalli said Monday that they would now seek a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

"We thought she deserved it the first time around and we believe she deserves it this time around," Daskas said.

But Bonaventure said further litigation would be needed to determine whether a punishment of life without parole would be a possibility. Jurors chose Murphy's sentence after a penalty phase in the first trial.

Bonaventure said his "initial reaction" was that prosecutors should not be allowed to seek the harsher sentence.

"I think the only punishment should be life with the possibility of parole," he said.

Bonaventure said he would rule on that at a later date.

Defense attorneys had waged a long battle to get Murphy released from custody on bail.

They had argued that she had been entitled to bail since July, when the Nevada Supreme Court overturned the murder, robbery and burglary convictions and ordered a new trial for both defendants.

DeGuerin said the Nevada Supreme Court justices who overturned Murphy's conviction noted that the evidence against Murphy was primarily circumstantial. They referred to it as a "close case," he said.

Defense attorneys also argued that Murphy would not be able to adequately prepare for her trial while in custody at the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Facility in North Las Vegas, where she was being housed.

Local attorney Michael Cristalli said Murphy's status after her appeal required her to be placed in administrative segregation at the prison, which means she was on 23-hour lockdown and was separated from other inmates.

Cristalli said Murphy met with her attorneys in hand and leg shackles, had no access to the law library and could only shower once every three days.

Daskas and Lalli said Murphy was segregated because she had reported to prison officials that an inmate had threatened her.

Murphy denied that was the case.

Prosecutors argued that Murphy should be held without bail because her conviction was overturned only on "a technicality," not because of lack of evidence. They said the evidence against her was still great.

They noted that Murphy's $300,000 bail was revoked prior to her first trial because she constantly disobeyed court orders, including going shopping when she was on house arrest and supposed to be meeting with her attorneys, and tried to influence the testimony of several witnesses.

"She was given chances in the past and she made a complete mockery of the criminal justice system," Lalli said. "It's our position that it's simply not worth the risk."

DeGuerin said his client was presumed innocent.

"This case now viewed in the prism of hindsight shows us that it is a close case," he said. "She's innocent and I think we're going to prove it this time."

Authorities initially did not consider foul play when Binion's body was found next to an empty bottle of Xanax on the floor of his Las Vegas home on Sept. 17, 1998.

Two days later Tabish and two other men were arrested on theft charges in Pahrump after they dug up Binion's $6 million silver fortune from an underground vault. Police later learned that Murphy and Tabish were romantically involved.

Defense attorneys claim Binion died of a heroin overdose and that there was no proof of criminal agency.

Tabish did not attend Monday's hearing. He is still serving a sentence on other charges relating to the case.