Friday, Nov. 12, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.
It's the alibi, stupid.
Forget about all of the conflicting testimony we're hearing from medical experts in court about how Ted Binion died the morning of Sept. 17, 1998.
Rick Tabish has to persuade the jury that he was nowhere near Binion's home that morning if he and Binion's live-in girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, want to avoid being convicted the second time around of killing the casino boss.
Prosecutors say Tabish's lack of an alibi is crucial to wrapping up their theory of the murder plot.
The key to this case is the mass of circumstantial evidence prosecutors presented linking Tabish and Murphy, then lovers, to the conspiracy. That would include their scheming before Binion's death, their alleged looting of his belongings afterwards and their manipulation of witnesses during the homicide investigation.
If the jurors are impressed with that evidence, they're going to believe that Tabish was with Murphy at the home, even though prosecutors can't place him there with certainty. The jurors also are going to believe the prosecution's theory that Binion did not die of an accidental drug overdose, but rather was pumped with drugs and suffocated.
That's what the first jury did four years ago when it convicted Murphy and Tabish.
One way for Tabish to overcome the weight of the prosecution's case is to have a solid alibi, which he has yet to demonstrate.
He'll get another crack at it today, however, if he takes the witness stand, as expected, in his own defense.
Tabish, a Montana contractor, contends he was at All Star Transit Mix with his crew in North Las Vegas between 8 a.m and noon on the day of Binion's death.
Two of Tabish's loyal former employees told the jury this week that they saw him at All Star that morning and that he was involved in bringing a new water meter to the plant.
But on Wednesday Michael Milot, a longtime Tabish friend and trusted manager, shot a gaping hole in Tabish's alibi, even though he was called by the defense.
Milot, who helped Tabish dig up Binion's $6 million silver fortune in Pahrump after the casino executive's death, testified that he couldn't recall seeing Tabish at All Star on the morning of Sept. 17. The concerned look could be seen on Tabish's face as Milot testified.
Milot never took the witness stand at the first trial. He pleaded no contest afterward to a grand larceny charge in the silver theft.
What Milot said this week is important because he was Tabish's right-hand man in 1998, constantly in contact with him. It was Milot who put down a $925 deposit on the new water meter and brought it to the plant about 10 a.m.
Much to the dismay of the defense, Milot testified that he didn't see Tabish at All Star in the hours before or after Milot went to get the water meter.
Milot also testified that he got a call at All Star from Tabish that morning, further undermining Tabish's alibi.
Even District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, who has not been friendly to the prosecution this time around, told lawyers outside the presence of the jury that it didn't look as though Milot had helped the defense.
If you add Milot's testimony to what prosecution witness Jason Frazer told the jurors last week, you'll get a better idea of the difficulties facing Tabish.
Frazer, a former Tabish business partner, testified under a grant of immunity that Tabish involved him in a scheme to pay alibi witnesses to place Tabish at All Star.
That's not evidence of a man with a solid alibi.
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