Montana to handle parole for Tabish
CARSON CITY -- The Montana Department of Corrections agreed Monday to take over the supervision of Rick Tabish, the man who was convicted and later acquitted of killing Las Vegas casino executive Ted Binion.
Cathy Gordon, interstate compact unit manager for the agency, said that under the release plan, Tabish, 45, will be required to live with his parents, Frank and Lani Tabish, in Missoula. He will be supervised by Montana parole agents until his prison term expires in March.
Gordon said she did not know when Tabish will be released from the Ely State Prison, but it probably will be within days.
"He has to work," Gordon added. "His parents will support him until he finds work."
Tabish was granted parole by the Nevada Parole Commission in January, but Montana had to agree to his parole plan and living arrangements before he could be released to that state.
He and secret girlfriend Sandy Murphy were convicted in 2000 of murdering Binion, a heroin addict and son of legendary casino owner Benny Binion. Murphy, a former stripper, was the live-in lover of Binion at the time of his death in 1998.
The Nevada Supreme Court overturned their murder convictions in 2003.
Tabish remained in prison on burglary and grand larceny convictions stemming from the theft of Binion's $7 million silver stash buried in a vault near Pahrump.
Murphy was released from prison earlier and now lives in Laguna Beach, Calif.
Tabish grew up in Missoula, the son of a respected family, according to the Missoulian newspaper in Montana.
By his 20s, he was involved in a series of crimes involving drugs, burglary and the theft of a $600,000 painting that turned out to be a forgery, according to the newspaper. He took the painting from a home of a lawyer who was representing him in a case.
Tabish served a brief sentence on cocaine charges, according to the Montana newspaper, but after his release started a number of businesses, including a trucking company whose expansion led him to Las Vegas.
His brother, Greg Tabish, told the Review-Journal in January that the "family's extremely happy to have him home."
"It's great to get great news for a change," he said.
Review-Journal reporter Carri Geer Thevenot contributed to this report. Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.
