Tabish’s lawyers seeking public funds

Stephen Curran

Monday, Aug. 9, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

A District Court judge on Friday said he would review a motion to allow four private attorneys to send a bill to taxpayers for at least part of the defense of Rick Tabish, who faces a retrial in the 1998 murder of gaming figure Ted Binion.

Saying Tabish had liquidated his resources and that family members were no longer available to pay for his defense, J. Tony Serra, a prominent San Francisco attorney representing Tabish, asked District Judge Joseph Bonaventure to extend a Nevada statute that allows private attorneys to bill the state for "reasonable defense services" if their clients become indigent.

Tabish, addressing the court under oath, said he had exhausted both his and his parents' life savings and now qualified as an indigent defendant. "I'm innocent of this and my parents believe I'm innocent of this," he said. "But this has cleared out my parents' retirement."

Tabish and Sandy Murphy, who once lived with Binion, are accused of the September 1998 murder of Binion, the former part owner of Binion's Horseshoe who was found dead in the Las Vegas home he shared with Murphy.

Both Tabish and Murphy were convicted of the murder in 2000 and were sentenced to life in prison, but the Nevada Supreme Court overturned the conviction. The former lovers are set for a new trial in October.

Deputy District Attorney Christopher Lalli disputed Tabish's claims that he is indigent, saying that poor people do not often hire six attorneys who commission pricey polls and hire jury consultants.

"The statute is not in place for people who can afford six lawyers," Lalli said.

Bonaventure, who at times read aloud from the statute, did not estimate when he would make his decision, but defended the statute as an incentive for accused criminals to try to retain private counsel.

"The judge has to be the gatekeeper," Bonaventure said, saying he would review the request to determine if it was "reasonable."