Jurors study print testimony before reaching verdict

Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004 | 11:17 a.m.

After two days and about five hours of deliberation, jurors were to announce their verdict in the retrial of millionaire casino figure Ted Binion's alleged killers this afternoon.

On Monday morning, the jurors had the testimony of a Metro Police latent print examiner read back to them.

And on Monday afternoon the jury made an additional request of the court, asking that a television and VCR be placed in the deliberations room.

Only two pieces of evidence introduced during the trial would require such materials: a videotaped inventory of Binion's home the day after his death taken by Murphy and Binion's longtime friend and attorney James Brown; and a tape taken of Murphy's friend Billy Bacon in February 1998.

In the video created to record the items in Binion's home, Murphy goes throughout the house and tells the cameraman "make sure we get a complete inventory" of everything in the house, from artwork to refrigerator magnets.

Murphy moves quickly from room to room opening and slamming shut drawers and cabinets as the camera records the contents of the home.

Murphy can be heard on the tape saying she believed several items had already been taken from the house, including her china and $20,000.

In another sequence on the tape Murphy appears to be caught putting an item into her bag and concealing the act from the camera by walking backward. Prosecutors have alleged previously the item is a wine glass that may have been used to mix a drug cocktail to forcefully overdose Binion. Even when played in slow-motion, however, it was not clear exactly what Murphy had done.

Defense lawyers said Murphy was taking a drink of wine to calm her nerves and tried to conceal it from the camera because her mother did not want her to be drinking.

In another slow motion snippet, Murphy appears to be taking an undisclosed item from a drawer. When the tape was played in court, Murphy, who was watching the tape closely, whispered to her lawyers that she had grabbed the garage door opener.

During the Bacon tape, Murphy can be seen putting away a game she had been playing with Bacon and later is seen playing the piano.

Binion appears at the very end of the video eating in the kitchen. Bacon asks Binion how he's doing, to which Binion replies, "Good.'

The tape offered visual evidence that the drapes on the window overlooking the backyard were not closed for the first time on the morning of Binion's death. On the night that the videotape was made they were closed.

Prosecutors allege the drapes were closed on the day of Binion's death so no one could see Binion's body and Murphy and Tabish inside the home.

Before they headed back into the deliberation room to review those videotapes, however, the court reporter, Tom Mercer, read to the jurors the testimony of Ed Guenther.

Guenther went to the witness stand twice during the six-weeklong trial to testify about the results of his search for fingerprints on a variety of items found around Binion's body, on a money collection inventory, on a wine glass found on an end table near the scene of Binion's death and on the exterior pane of Murphy's bathroom window at the Binion home.

Guenther said the absence of fingerprints on a bottle of Xanax, a pack of cigarettes and three lighters recovered within inches of Binion's body was consistent with them being wiped clean.

Prosecutors argued that the items were wiped clean because the scene was staged by Murphy and Rick Tabish after they killed Binion.

Guenther said he found the fingerprints of Tabish and Murphy on the money collection list. He also found Murphy's fingerprints on the wine glass.

The money collection inventory, which Murphy's attorney, Michael Cristalli, has conceded was created by Murphy, is a comprehensive list of specific bills and coins by name and date -- all of which had belonged to Binion.

Murphy's friend, Tanya Cropp, testified during the trial that a week after Binion died Murphy asked her to "safeguard" some papers, including the list.

Tabish's brother-in-law, Dennis Rehbien, also testified Tabish showed him the inventory list of silver coins. Rehbien testified to giving Tabish a loan of $25,000 for his legal defense. When Tabish was unable to pay back the loan in the 30-day period they agreed to, Rehbien said Tabish gave him two bags of silver coins.

Murphy's fingerprints also were found on the exterior of her bathroom window at the Binion home, but Guenther was unable to say if the prints would have been made by someone from inside or outside the home.

On Sept. 17, 1998, the day Binion was found dead, a chair was found outside and under the open window. Prosecutors have argued that Binion had kicked Murphy out of the house after he discovered she was cheating on him with Tabish and that Murphy had sneaked back into the house using the bathroom window, prosecutors said.

The jurors took diligent notes throughout the reading of Guenther's testimony, most actively when the subject of the Xanax bottle, cigarette pack and lighters were discussed.

The jury's foreperson is juror number 10, a married mother of two who works for the state of Taxation Department. She previously worked for the IRS for 15 years.

Prosecutors allege Murphy and Tabish suffocated Binion and tried to make it look like an overdose. A day later Tabish went to steal Binion's silver in Pahrump, prosecutors said.

The defense lawyers contend that Binion died of an accidental overdose of heroin, Xanax and Valium, and that Tabish was simply following Binion's order to preserve the silver for Binion's daughter.

Tabish and Murphy had been having an affair at the time of Binion's death, though Murphy was living with Binion and Tabish had a wife in Montana. Four years ago Tabish and Murphy were convicted of murdering Binion and were sentenced to life in prison, but the Nevada Supreme Court later overturned the convictions.

The jury deliberated for a few hours Friday and all day Saturday and Monday, except for the time they spent listening to the reading of Guenther's testimony.

Due to the approaching Thanksgiving holiday, District Judge Joe Bonaventure will allow the jury to continue deliberating today and Wednesday, but give them off the rest of the week due to the holiday.

Until a verdict is delivered both the prosecution and defense attorneys have vowed not to discuss the case with the media.