Columnist Jeff German: Murphy’s freedom up to judge

Wednesday, March 9, 2005 | 10:48 a.m.

We're headed for more high drama Friday when Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish are sentenced in the theft of Ted Binion's $6 million silver fortune.

The big question is whether Murphy, who's free on $300,000 bail, will be returned to the prison system.

Murphy and Tabish, former lovers, were acquitted at their November retrial of killing Binion in 1998. But they were convicted on felony charges for digging up and removing the silver from Binion's underground vault in Pahrump 36 hours after his death.

Based on confidential reports from the Nevada Parole and Probation Division, prosecutors said Tuesday they plan to ask District Judge Joseph Bonaventure to give Murphy and Tabish prison terms.

"Whether you believe Ted Binion was murdered or not, they still were exploiting his death," said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Lalli, the lead prosecutor at the second trial.

Lalli said the parole and probation reports recommend prison for both defendants but, because the reports are not public, he declined to give the lengths of the suggested prison terms.

But I'm told in Murphy's case, Parole and Probation is asking one to four years, which is less than the 4 to 10 years she and Tabish each got for the same crimes after the first trial in 2000.

Murphy's lawyer, Michael Cristalli, said Parole and Probation also has concluded that the nearly four years Murphy spent behind bars on the original murder conviction is "sufficient punishment."

It's creating an interesting dilemma for Bonaventure -- and probably some anxious moments for Murphy.

If Bonaventure follows the maximum four-year recommendation, Murphy still would have to go back to prison and then the Parole Board to gain her freedom. She is 54 days shy of serving four years.

The good news for Murphy is that she isn't in the same situation as Tabish, who is expected to get prison time tacked on to the sentence of 18 to 120 months he's serving related to a 1998 extortion conviction.

Unlike Tabish, Murphy has no other felony convictions.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Tuesday, Cristalli said that giving his client more time behind bars than the 1,406 days she already has served would be too harsh and not fit the crime.

Murphy, Cristalli wrote, has moved to California to be close to her family.

"She has developed a relationship with a person very special to her and plans to marry and have children," he said. "Further incarceration would cause her to lose the life that she has worked so hard to rebuild."

But prosecutors don't share that opinion. They believe she should be returned to prison.

Bonaventure will make that call on Friday.

The judge, it turns out, doesn't have to follow Parole and Probation's recommendations. Technically, he could sentence Murphy to the same 4 to 10 years behind bars that he handed out the first time around.

He also could give her probation or a sentence with a maximum of less than four years -- which would keep her out of prison.

So far, neither prosecutors nor defense lawyers have any idea what Bonaventure will do. There's a good chance that even the judge doesn't know yet.

But this shouldn't be surprising in the most notorious criminal case of all time in Las Vegas.

It's only fitting that the final chapter end in high drama.