Sunday, November 21, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Jury in Binion case asks to review testimony

The jury in the Ted Binion murder trial deliberated all day Saturday without reaching a verdict for slaying suspects Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, but the jury did request information about fingerprint evidence in the case.

Court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said jurors sent a note to District Judge Joseph Bonaventure asking to have the testimony of Las Vegas police latent fingerprint examiner Ed Guenther read back to them.

Bonaventure plans to have the testimony read to the jury at 11 a.m. Monday. By law, a jury in Nevada is not allowed to deliberate on Sunday.

The significance of the jury's request is unknown.

Guenther was called to the witness stand twice by prosecutors in the trial. He testified there were no fingerprints, partial prints or print smudges on items next to Binion's body. The items were three lighters, a cigarette pack and an empty bottle of the prescription drug Xanax.

Prosecutors argued that the lack of fingerprints indicated Binion's death scene was staged to look like an accident.

Defense attorneys for Murphy and Tabish contend Binion, a heroin addict, died of an accidental overdose.

Binion was found dead in his Las Vegas home Sept. 17, 1998. Authorities allege Murphy, his live-in girlfriend, and Tabish drugged and suffocated Binion in a plot to steal his millions in assets and silver.

Guenther also testified that Tabish's and Murphy's prints were found on an itemized list of Binion's coins. Witness Tanya Cropp, who was Murphy's friend and Binion's secretary, said Murphy asked her to hold on to the list about a week after Binion's death.