Columnist Jeff German: Binion circus plays on

Tuesday, July 20, 2004 | 10:57 a.m.

In case you haven't noticed, the Ted Binion murder case is heating up with the retrial of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish less than three months away.

How do we know that?

Consider the news that broke in the Sun on Monday that the district attorney's office is investigating allegations of defense-tampering with a key prosecution witness, Steven Kurt Gratzer.

This comes on the heels of a defense motion accusing prosecutors of misconduct in their handling of Gratzer, a flip-flopping former Army Ranger who grew up with Tabish in Missoula, Montana.

Come one, come all. The most publicized murder case in Las Vegas history, with more thrills than a Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey production, is once more establishing itself as the Greatest Show on Earth -- at least at the county courthouse.

Only in a circus could someone like Gratzer not only play both sides like a ringmaster, but wind up being paid by both sides.

Gratzer received a $20,000 reward from Binion's estate after he testified against Tabish and Murphy under a grant of immunity at the first trial four years ago.

But now it turns out that people tied to Murphy's defense team also may have given Gratzer money in an apparent bid to sabotage his relationship with prosectors at the upcoming October retrial.

District Attorney David Roger has launched an investigation into allegations Gratzer was given $35,000 for legal fees in Missoula, where he has faced his own criminal charges.

Roger won't name the targets of the witness-tampering probe, but it's no secret that Murphy's defense team has had plenty of money to burn.

The cash allegedly exchanged hands back in July 2001, but prosecutors didn't get wind of it until a year ago, after they started checking into why Gratzer was becoming cozy with the defense. It had become common knowledge that Gratzer had provided the defense with a sworn affidavit criticizing the conduct of prosecutors.

The affidavit, however, didn't make its way to court until last week, when it was filed as an exhibit in a motion to dismiss the murder charges against Murphy.

By that time prosecutors had concluded that money, more than Gratzer, was talking in his affidavit.

They had uncovered seven recordings of jailhouse conversations in Missoula between Gratzer and a defense team associate allegedly looking to help Gratzer with his legal troubles. Gratzer was being held behind bars at the time on a drunken-driving charge.

Despite his credibility problems, prosecutors aren't giving up on Gratzer as a witness. His original testimony laying the ground work for Tabish's alleged motive in the scheme to kill Binion has been corroborated by other witnesses in Missoula.

Gratzer actually has become even more important now. Allegations of witness-tampering have surfaced before in this case. During the first trial, Jason Frazer, a former Tabish business partner, testified that Tabish tried to involve him in a plot to pay off alibi witnesses.

The latest allegations are sure to play a prominent role in the retrial.

And they're sure to give us more entertainment under the Big Top.