Friday, October 29, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

BINION TRIAL: Comment to jury rankles

Worker says `guilty'; defense `horrified'

Ted Binion's daughter, Bonnie Binion, testifies Thursday in the murder trial of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, who face murder charges in her father's death. Photo by ISAAC BREKKEN/REVIEW-JOURNAL

A deliveryman blurted out the word "guilty" to the jury in the Ted Binion murder trial Thursday, raising a hornet's nest of potential legal issues and frustrating the presiding judge.

"It's amazing to me that someone would say something stupid like that in a joking manner," District Judge Joseph Bonaventure said.

The worker had been asked to refill a water cooler in a room commonly used by jurors in the murder trial of Rick Tabish and Sandy Murphy, who are accused of killing Binion in 1998. A bailiff let the worker into the jury room to refill the cooler, and in front of jurors, the unidentified man said, "guilty."

The unidentified worker is believed to have left the building before the judge became aware of the incident.

Attorneys for Murphy and Tabish said they were "horrified" by the development.

"If I was cynical, I would say it was the Binion money machine," said Tabish's attorney, J. Tony Serra, referring to the estate of Binion, which has been accused by defense attorneys of orchestrating the murder charges against Murphy and Tabish.

Serra and Murphy's attorney, Michael Cristalli, stopped short of asking Bonaventure for a mistrial. But Serra said if there are future attempts to tamper with the jury, he will ask Bonaventure for a mistrial, and the attorneys also said the incident could become an appellate issue if their clients are convicted.

"The impression I got from the bailiff was he wasn't sure if anyone else heard it," Clark County prosecutor Christopher Lalli said.

It was not immediately clear Thursday evening whether authorities were trying to identify the deliveryman.

The incident was similar to an event that unfolded during the first trial of Murphy and Tabish in 2000, when Golden Nugget bellman Richard Sueno yelled "not guilty" to the jury. Bonaventure gave Sueno a tongue-lashing, but he did not jail Sueno on a contempt charge.

Murphy and Tabish are charged with murder, grand larceny and conspiracy in the September 1998 death of Binion, who was found dead in his Las Vegas home Sept. 17, 1998. Authorities say Binion was killed by Murphy, his live-in girlfriend, and her lover, Tabish, in a plot to steal his millions.

Prosecutors have alleged Binion was forced to ingest heroin and Xanax, then suffocated. Defense attorneys contend Binion, a longtime heroin addict, died of a drug overdose.

Tabish and Murphy were convicted of murder in the 2000 trial, but those convictions were overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court last year.

Also during the trial Thursday, Binion's daughter, Bonnie Binion, took the witness stand and tearfully told how Murphy entered Ted Binion's life in the mid-1990s. Bonnie Binion said once Murphy moved into Ted Binion's home, Murphy tried to drive a wedge between Bonnie Binion and her father.

"In the beginning, she tried to make me feel as unwelcome as possible," Bonnie Binion said. "She moved all the personal items from my room, and she said plenty of negative things about my mother."

Later, when Bonnie Binion moved out of the house, she said she repeatedly tried to call her father, only to have Murphy answer the phone and claim the elder Binion wasn't home.

"Sometimes she would tell me he wasn't there, or he didn't have a daughter," Bonnie Binion said.

Prior to Bonnie Binion taking the stand, prosecutors attempted to portray Murphy as a woman consumed by greed, not grief, the day after Binion's death. They played in court a videotape Murphy and one of her civil attorneys made on Sept. 18, 1998, the day after Binion died. On the tape, Murphy is shown itemizing virtually every article in Binion's home.

On the tape, Murphy rampages through the residence, pulling out drawers and opening closet doors to point out merchandise she said was hers. Throughout the tape, Murphy talks about her concerns that representatives of Binion's estate eventually will come into the home and steal her belongings.

"Make sure you get a good view right here," Murphy says, speaking to the camera and pointing to blankets and bedspreads in a closet. "You can account for every one of these."

"This statue is mine, the picture on the wall is mine," she says.

"I want everyone to see everything, I want nothing missing," she said.

On the tape, Murphy also is shown grabbing a glass off a kitchen table. Authorities have claimed this glass might have been used to administer a heavy dose of the prescription drug Xanax to Binion.

After the tape concluded, two male jurors were observed glaring at Murphy for seconds at a time.

In addition, an accountant for Ted Binion testified Thursday that in the two years prior to Ted Binion's death, the millionaire spent $446,301 on Murphy. That money was spent on "pocket money" for Murphy, along with payments for a monthly credit card bill, her luxury sports car and cell phone.

Accountant Robert Gregory Stuart also said that about two months after Ted Binion's death, Murphy called him to find out whether she was the beneficiary of any of the gaming heir's life insurance policies. She was not.

Testimony in the case will resume Monday.