Witness says Tabish was willing to pay for an alibi

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

A former business partner of Rick Tabish testified Wednesday that Tabish told him "his life was on the line" and he was willing to pay witnesses to help him establish an alibi for the day Ted Binion died.

Jason Frazer said that while Tabish was in custody in the Clark County Detention Center during the summer of 1999, Tabish asked him to contact Jim Mitchell and Larry Eckerd to "set-up an alibi." Frazer said Tabish told him he was "willing to take care of anything anyone asked for" that assisted in creating an alibi.

"He (Tabish) said when he owed somebody something the reward would be huge," Frazer said.

Frazer said Tabish wanted Mitchell to testify he was with Tabish working at All-Star Ready Mix, a North Las Vegas concrete company, from 6 a.m. until the afternoon on Sept. 17, 1998.

Dr. Lary Simm, the county medical examiner, and Dr. Michael Baden have testified that Binion died between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m on that day.

Frazer said Mitchell wanted to check timecards to verify whether or not he was with Tabish that day. Mitchell also said he was concerned about going to court because of an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

Mitchell testified at the first trial that he saw Tabish "all over the place" at All Star the day of Binion's death and that he never received any money from Frazer or Tabish for his testimony.

Tabish and Sandy Murphy had been lovers at the time of Binion's death even though Murphy was living with Binion and telling people she was effectively Binion's wife. Tabish and Murphy were convicted in 2000 of murdering Binion and were sentenced to life in prison, but the Nevada Supreme Court later overturned the convictions.

Defense attorneys contend that Binion died of a drug overdose involving a lethal mixture of heroin, Xanax and Valium.

Tabish's attorney, J. Tony Serra, questioned Frazer's truthfulness by recalling his previous testimony at the first trial. In that earlier trial, Frazer had testified that Mitchell wanted to see the time cards not because he didn't believe Tabish, but because he wanted "to make sure he wasn't going to lie on the stand."

Under Serra's questioning, Frazer admitted that no money was ever paid to Mitchell, and that he wasn't in a position to say Mitchell "perjured himself."

Frazer said Eckert, owner of Eckert Trucking in Montana, refused to assist Tabish in establishing an alibi, telling Frazer he "did not want anything to do with this case."

Frazer, who was granted immunity from charges of being an accomplice to murder, also said that Tabish wrote him a series of notes instructing Frazer to contact a man named Ishma in an attempt to discredit the Binion estate's investigator Tom Dillard.

Frazer said after receiving a phone number for Ishma he met the man with a "dark complexion" on a street in downtown Las Vegas and was told it would cost $2,000 "up front" and $2,000 for each of the witnesses that would testify Dillard offered them money to testify for the prosecution.

Frazer said that after explaining Ishma's terms, Tabish told him to "take care of it." Frazer said he later cashed a $2,000 check at BankWest of Nevada and gave it to a woman with a "dark complexion and dreadlocks or braids" who was associated with Ishma.

Frazer's dealings with Tabish would later be brought to the attention of authorities after his then-wife found the notes he had received from Tabish. He said the notes mentioned Ishma and payments to "three guys for $2,000 each." Serra challenged Frazer's story regarding Ishma saying no witness ever testified Dillard paid them to testify for the prosecution and there was no record of Frazer cashing a check in the amount of $2,000.

For the attempts to allegedly create an alibi and discredit Dillard, Tabish promised Frazer more than $50,000 from the profit Tabish expected to reap from book and movie deals based on his experience, Frazer said.

Serra asked Frazer if his story was the truth or simply one he created when he was placed in custody as a material witness and had bail set at $1 million. "All you are doing is trying to hurt my client," Serra alleged.

Frazer said that regardless of whether or not money was paid to Mitchell or witnesses ever testified to discredit Dillard he felt he was asked to do something "shady" on behalf of Tabish.

Serra said there was nothing illegal about Tabish wanting an alibi witness to come forward to testify Tabish was "at the sand pit during the time of the alleged murder."

Whether it was legal for Murphy to allegedly tell her friend Tanya Cropp to make false statements to Dillard also became an issue Wednesday as Cropp was recalled to the stand.

Cropp said Murphy asked her to tell Dillard two things that Cropp believed were lies. Cropp said Murphy first told her to tell Dillard "Rick (Tabish) came and took something before Jim Brown could get his hands on it" and also that she "saw Ted (Binion) give Rick (Tabish) money the day before he died."

Cropp also said that a week after Binion died, Murphy asked her to "safeguard" some papers that formed a comprehensive list of specific dollars and coins by name and date -- all of which had belonged to Binion.

Ed Guenther, a Metro Police latent print examiner, testified to finding fingerprints of both Murphy and Tabish on the coin list, but couldn't say when or where the prints were made on the papers.

The issue of coins, specifically silver coins that Tabish is alleged to have used as collateral for a loan "for his legal defense," was the focus of Dennis Rehbein's testimony.

Rehbien, the brother of Tabish's ex-wife Mary Jo Jackson, said that on Nov. 1, 1998, Tabish asked him for a loan of $25,000 and presented a collection of "silver coins" as collateral.

Rehbien said Tabish first showed him an inventory list of silver coins before later giving him the coins when he was unable to repay Rehbien the $25,000 loan within the 30-day period they had agreed to. The coin list is the same piece of evidence Cropp said Murphy had given her a week after Binion's death.

The prosecution was scheduled to conclude its case today, with the defense beginning its case on Friday morning.