Columnist Jeff German: Cassidy may yet get to tell story

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2003 | 11:37 a.m.

After spending eight months in jail, William Cassidy is ready to move on with his life.

He struck a deal in court this morning, resolving the criminal charges against him stemming from the sexual assault of his wife and the burning down of her massage parlor in February.

Cassidy entered what's known as an Alford plea to two felony charges -- first-degree arson and attempted battery constituting domestic violence. Under Alford, a defendant enters a plea without admitting guilt.

The plea could earn the former top aide to Mayor Oscar Goodman prison time, but Cassidy and his lawyer, Jonathan MacArthur, are hoping to persuade District Judge Lee Gates to give him probation. Cassidy also was hoping to be released on his own recognizance until his sentencing.

"I'm looking forward to getting out and resuming my business interests," the 53-year-old Cassidy said Tuesday in a telephone interview from the Clark County Detention Center.

Others are looking forward to seeing whether prosecutors now will be free to get Cassidy to reveal his secrets about the Sept. 17, 1998, slaying of Ted Binion, the biggest murder case of all time in Las Vegas.

You'll recall that Cassidy, who also happens to be a former Binion defense consultant, has told me that he has intimate knowledge of the colorful casino executive's death.

This comes as the Nevada Supreme Court has tossed out the murder convictions of Binion's accused killers, Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, and ordered them to be retried.

In recent weeks the jubilant defendants have mounted a public relations campaign predicting they will be acquitted at the second trial.

But Cassidy has suggested that he has information that could wipe the smiles off the faces of the defendants.

He has offered to help prosecutors as they gear up to retry Murphy and Tabish, but so far his offer has been declined.

Publicly prosecutors have said they fear Cassidy might be barred from disclosing his potentially explosive information under the attorney-client privilege, and they don't want to risk any court sanctions getting close to him. They seem to want to avoid the perception that they are willing to let Cassidy off the hook in his criminal case in return for his juicy information.

Cassidy said his biggest motivation in the talks came within the last couple of days, when his wife -- and chief accuser -- told close friends that she still loved him and wanted to start the process of reconciliation.

His wife, it turns out, would not have been a good prosecution witness, which was more than enough incentive for the district attorney's office to settle the case.

And that powder keg of Binion information Cassidy is guarding?

Given the intense public interest in Binion's death and the never-ending arrogant attitude of his accused killers, it's hard to believe that prosecutors will let those secrets slip through their fingers.

I have a feeling they're going to want to strike a second deal with Cassidy before the second Binion trial takes place.