Columnist Jeff German: Cassidy says Binion murdered

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.

It was pretty clear that the outcome of the Ted Binion murder trial in 2000 hinged on a battle of medical experts.

Lawyers for the two convicted defendants, Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, contended Binion, a known heroin abuser, died of a drug overdose in 1998. Prosecutors charged that Binion was forced to ingest heroin and Xanax and then was suffocated.

The defense plans to argue the overdose theory again at the retrial, and prosecutors are sticking to their account of Binion's demise.

Enter William Cassidy, a former Murphy defense investigator who could very well mess up both theories if he's allowed to tell all.

As you know from reading this space, Cassidy is trying to ease his way out of his own criminal troubles. He's in jail facing charges of sexually assaulting his wife and setting fire to her massage parlor.

Short of winning an acquittal at trial, one option of beating the rap is for Cassidy to give prosecutors what can only be described as bombshell information that could have a profound impact on the most publicized murder case in Las Vegas history.

So let's cut to the chase.

Though he won't provide details on the record, Cassidy now says he knows, "as a matter of moral certainty," that Binion was indeed murdered on Sept. 17, 1998.

"I know how Ted Binion died, why he died and who is responsible for his death," Cassidy told me in the latest of several jailhouse interviews.

He said he obtained this knowledge from his work as a key member of Murphy's defense team during the first trial.

His words, if true, could shatter the defense's overdose argument at the retrial, but if you listen further, they also could complicate the prosecution's theory of Binion's death.

"To my certain knowledge," Cassidy said, "Ms. Murphy had no foreknowledge that (Binion) was going to be killed."

Cassidy stopped short of saying Murphy had no culpability at all in Binion's death, but, even more revealing, Cassidy did not suggest that Tabish lacked premeditation to harm Binion.

As I previously suggested, getting this story out isn't going to be easy.

There's a good chance that Cassidy won't be able to step forward without facing sanctions for violating confidentiality guidelines. The attorney-client privilege also generally applies to investigators who work for defense lawyers.

But there are several exceptions to the privilege and just as many questions about whether it even applies to Cassidy, who was hired not by the attorneys in this case but by Murphy's millionaire benefactor, William Fuller.

For the moment, District Attorney David Roger is intrigued by what Cassidy has to say, but because of the legal uncertainties, Roger has no immediate desire to speak with him.

At some point, however, Roger is going to have to explore the legalities of listening to Cassidy.

Whether it is credible or not, Cassidy's story is too hot to be ignored.