Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.
Four years ago District Judge Joseph Bonaventure called Rick Tabish a "con man" when he sentenced him to prison in the slaying of casino executive Ted Binion.
Tabish may have stayed in character the last couple of days, as he took his fate and the fate of his co-defendant and former lover, Sandy Murphy, into his own hands by testifying.
Of all the twists and turns in the valley's most publicized murder case, Tabish's testimony in the retrial is turning out to be the most astonishing. It was the first time Tabish has taken the stand and had his story challenged.
Tabish started on Friday in front of a packed courtroom and live television audience by looking the jurors in the eye and telling them in his most forceful voice that he didn't kill Binion on Sept. 17, 1998.
His story appeared convincing on the surface -- his light, Western demeanor blunting the charges -- but to those with intimate knowledge of the case, it was a long tale of denial that simply didn't add up.
Tabish, at the time of the killing a married Montana contractor, contradicted the prosecution theory: He said he was not the man in desperate financial straits who stole Binion's gold-digging girlfriend (Murphy) and planned his cold-blooded murder to gain access to Binion's riches.
On the contrary, he portrayed himself as Binion's best friend, even though he had only known the street-wise gambling figure, the ultimate Las Vegas insider, just a few months.
And he told the jurors that he was Murphy's knight in shining armor, rescuing her from what he said was abuse at the hands of the drug-addicted Binion, who created his own demise by overdosing on heroin and Xanax.
A couple of times during breaks in his testimony, Binion's older brother, gaming mogul Jack Binion, who sat in the first row, huddled with prosecutors shaking his head.
Binion's daughter and chief heir to his $55 million estate, Bonnie Binion, often kept a look of amazement on her face in court, as she listened intently to Tabish while frequently clutching the hand of her husband.
The most intriguing part of Tabish's testimony came Monday afternoon when he was subjected to tough cross-examination from Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas.
Tabish's calm demeanor changed during the intense questioning, and he rarely looked at the jurors. There even were occasional snickers in the courtroom gallery as he responded under fire to Daskas.
Every time Daskas would ask Tabish to explain the damaging testimony of a prosecution witness, Tabish would say the witness was wrong or had lied.
Daskas summed up the paradoxical nature of Tabish's testimony with one simple question early in the two hours of cross-examination.
He asked Tabish to explain this quandary: How could Tabish be with Murphy behind Binion's back while Binion was alive and expect the jury to believe that he was doing Binion a favor after his death by digging up his silver in Pahrump?
Tabish didn't have a good answer to that question.
But I suspect it's a question the jury will want answered as it decides whether or not to believe Rick Tabish.
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