Columnist Jeff German: Sequel for Binion II set in Vegas

Tuesday, July 15, 2003 | 11:07 a.m.

The Ted Binion murder case was billed as the "trial of the century" in Las Vegas the first time around.

But the retrial -- now that will be a real media circus. Television stations would be wise to start reserving space outside the courthouse for their satellite trucks.

Part II of the State of Nevada v. Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish should draw just as much -- if not more -- local and national media interest.

Court TV, which broadcast the first trial live across the country, wasted little time Monday afternoon telling its viewers that the Nevada Supreme Court had overturned the murder convictions.

And NBC's "Dateline," one of a slew of network news shows that picked up on the first trial, already was considering an update on the case.

The storyline, after all, has been irresistible to the media for five years. It pits the alleged gold-digging topless dancer and her new lover, both Las Vegas outsiders, against the colorful son of a Las Vegas legend.

But there's another reason to expect the media's appetite to grow in this case. It's the presence of Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz, a celebrity lawyer who has been involved in some of the most sensational murder cases in the country.

Dershowitz, who argued Murphy's appeal at the Nevada Supreme Court, did not play a physical role in the first trial.

But on Monday he told me that he planned to participate in the retrial on Murphy's behalf.

Though trial lawyering isn't his expertise, Dershowitz has helped shape the defense strategy outside the courtroom in several high-profile cases in the past, including O.J. Simpson's defense.

Just attaching the professor's name to a case generally brings out the television cameras. He's also a frequent legal consultant to several TV networks.

Tabish, meanwhile, was said to be considering hiring well-known San Francisco defense attorney J. Tony Serra, who last year tried to force the FBI to turn over any information it might have on Binion's death, as part of efforts to free Tabish.

Like Dershowitz, Serra also has a national reputation and a knack for attracting publicity.

And of course the mystery over Binion's death will continue to lure the media to the case. A jury convicted Murphy and Tabish on a mass of circumstantial evidence, but there was no smoking gun.

So questions still remain about how Binion was killed. Was it a forced drug overdose? Suffocation? Or both? Or was he simply a heroin addict who inadvertently ingested too many drugs?

And where did the valuables stolen from Binion's house the day he died go? British Columbia, as a jailhouse informant says?

There's nothing like a good treasure hunt to whip the media into a frenzy.

You can almost see the satellite trucks rolling and hear the anchors calling, "Come one, come all to the strangest show on Earth -- Part II."