New trial in Binion case

Monday, July 14, 2003 | 11:24 a.m.

In a split decision the Nevada Supreme Court today overturned the murder, robbery and burglary convictions of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish in the 1998 death of Ted Binion and ordered a new trial for both defendants.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger, who prosecuted Murphy and Tabish, said his office would prepare for a quick retrial.

"We're obviously disappointed, in the court's decision to reverse the murder convictions," Roger said "We will retry these defendants at the earliest possible time."

Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who argued Murphy's appeal at the Supreme Court a year ago, called the opinion a "just decision.

"This gives us the opportunity to present all of the new information to a jury." he said. "I'm confident that, when the jury hears all of the evidence, justice will be done."

The majority opinion said presiding District Judge Joseph Bonaventure erred by allowing Tabish to be tried on extortion charges not related to Binion's death along with the other charges. The extortion charges related to the beating of Jean sand pit operator Leo Casey by Tabish two months prior to Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, death.

The four justices in the majority -- Bob Rose, Deborah Agosti, Nancy Becker and Cliff Young -- said Bonaventure also improperly allowed dramatic hearsay evidence from Binion's lawyer, James J. Brown, who testified that Binion told him to cut Murphy out of his will the day before he died. The justices said Bonaventure should have warned the jury that the statement was hearsay.

Both mistakes by Bonaventure, the justices said, unfairly prejudiced the murder and robbery cases against Murphy and Tabish.

The Supreme Court, however, upheld Tabish's conviction in the Casey extortion.

The court said prosecutors could retry both defendants together on the murder robbery and burglary charges.

In a separate opinion, Justice Miriam Shearing said she agreed with the majority that the murder and robbery convictions should be reversed, but she said the burglary charges, relating to the attempted theft of Binion's Pahrump silver fortune, should be upheld.

Justices Bill Maupin and Myron Leavitt filed a dissenting opinion saying they believed all of the convictions against Murphy and Tabish should have been affirmed.

Roger said he planned to be involved in the retrial, but did not know whether his administrative duties would prevent him from being one of the actual trial lawyers.

Dershowitz said he planned to participate in the next trial on Murphy's behalf.

Binion's sister, Becky Behnen, declined comment until she has a chance to read the Supreme Court decision. Sandy Murphy's attorney Herb Sachs, had just heard that the Supreme Court had rendered an opinion when he was reached at his office this morning.

"It's great news, great news," said Sachs, who hadn't yet read the 56 pages of opinion released by the court about 9:15 this morning. "We would have liked for it to have been dismissed, but this is certainly great news and we're not complaining."

Bill Terry, who represents Rick Tabish, said he was excited to see at least part of the decision overturned.

"We were very confident on the issues of severance, hearsay, jury misconduct and the alternative theories of the state, and the court basically chose one of those issues to reverse the decision," Terry said.

Terry said that Tabish has already served enough prison time to meet the sentences on the chargers that were not reversed.

"I envision bail motions being filed," Terry said. "We're looking over our options as to what comes next, but certainly bail will be a priority."

Terry said that there could be motions filed with the Supreme Court that could hold up today's decision, but he doesn't see himself filing anything that will slow the process down.

"It could still get complicated, but we're getting ready to start over," Terry said.

Murphy's trial attorney, John Momot, called the decision "fantastic."

"You can't beat this," he said, skimming the opinion. "This is the right decision."

Murphy, a 31-year-old onetime topless dancer, and Tabish, a 38-year-old Montana contractor, were convicted of killing Binion on May 19, 2000, following a seven-week trial carried live on local and national television.

Binion's body was found next to an empty bottle of Xanax on the floor of his 2408 Palomino Lane home on Sept. 17, 1998. His house had been looted. Two days later Tabish and two other men were arrested on theft charges in Pahrump after they had dug up Binion's $6 million silver fortune from an underground vault.

Police later learned that Murphy, Binion's live-in girlfriend, and Tabish were romantically involved.

Detectives originally thought that Binion, a known heroin and alcohol abuser, had died of a drug overdose. His death turned into a homicide investigation two weeks later, after toxicology tests found that he had lethal levels of heroin and Xanax in his stomach.

Following their convictions, Bonaventure sentenced Murphy to a minimum of 22 years in prison and Tabish to a minimum of 25 years behind bars.