Notorious Murphy aims to clear name

Nine years have passed since Sandy Murphy gained notoriety as a suspect in the death of her live-in boyfriend, former Las Vegas casino executive Ted Binion.

Much has happened since then, but one aspect of Murphy's life hasn't changed: her effort to clear her name.

Murphy, who was convicted and later acquitted of murdering Binion, attended a hearing last week at the Regional Justice Center, where she is yet again seeking a new trial. Murphy, 35, wants another chance to convince a jury that she had no role in the theft of Binion's $7 million silver stash.

Although Murphy already has completed her prison sentence for felony convictions related to the theft, she continues to fight.

"When I'm 100 percent vindicated, then I'll be done," she said during a brief courthouse interview.

Moments earlier, defense attorney Thomas Pitaro argued Murphy's case in front of District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez. Pitaro told the judge that Murphy still has a serious offense on her criminal record that will brand her for life.

"We have a person who was convicted of a felony who shouldn't be convicted of a felony," the lawyer said.

Pitaro argued that "newly discovered evidence" warrants a new trial for Murphy. Prosecutors say the evidence is nothing new and Murphy has been aware of its existence for a long time.

Last month, defense attorney Michael Cristalli appeared before the Nevada Supreme Court and argued that prosecutors had insufficient evidence to support Murphy's convictions in the silver case.

Neither Gonzalez nor the state's high court have ruled on Murphy's lawyers' arguments.

Murphy was living with Binion in September 1998 when the gaming heir was found dead in his Las Vegas home. Authorities initially suspected that Binion had succumbed to a drug overdose.

But two days after Binion died, authorities caught Murphy's secret lover, Rick Tabish, and two other men digging up Binion's silver fortune at an underground vault in Pahrump.

Authorities subsequently charged Murphy and Tabish with murder, claiming the pair suffocated Binion after forcing him to ingest heroin and Xanax.

In 2000, jurors found the two defendants guilty of murder and charges related to the silver theft. Both were sentenced to life in prison, but the Nevada Supreme Court granted them a new trial in 2003.

The following year, a new jury acquitted Murphy and Tabish of the murder but again convicted them of charges arising from the silver theft. Murphy served about five years in prison before her release in 2005, but Tabish remains incarcerated. Tabish, 42, continues to serve time for the unrelated extortion of a business partner.

Murphy, now an art dealer who lives in California and Nevada, was accompanied to court last week by her business partner and live-in boyfriend, whom she described as her "partner in life." Also present was her benefactor, William Fuller, who is paying her legal fees.

"I never, ever pursue a legal issue unless my pursuit is righteous, and I think that's why I'm successful," Murphy said after the hearing.

That day's issue arose in a motion filed a year ago by Cristalli, who now is focusing solely on the Supreme Court appeal.

The motion describes new evidence obtained by the defense, including an affidavit signed in January 2006 by Steve Huggins, a former detective sergeant with the Nye County Sheriff's Office.

According to the affidavit, Huggins and two other deputies made contact on the morning of Sept. 19, 1998, with three suspects, including Tabish, who had removed a large amount of silver from Binion's vault in Pahrump.

Huggins then called Nye County Sheriff Wade Lieseke, who told him "that he had given Mr. Tabish permission to enter the vault and remove that portion of the silver that Mr. Tabish claimed was his," according to the document. Huggins claimed in the affidavit that Lieseke later arrived at the scene and told him "that he was opposed to arresting the three suspects."

According to the document, Huggins contacted private attorney Walter Cannon and Nye County Chief Deputy District Attorney Kirk Vitto two days later, and informed them about his conversations with Lieseke. Huggins advised both Cannon and Vitto that he believed his job would be jeopardized if he "truthfully related the facts and circumstances surrounding the arrests of the three subjects."

Huggins also informed Vitto, according to the affidavit, that his crime report regarding Lieseke's involvement in the incident would have "material omissions."

"Vitto accepted my crime report without comment on the material omissions," Huggins wrote.

Cannon also has submitted an affidavit in which he detailed a Sept. 21, 1998, meeting with Huggins. According to the document, Huggins told Cannon about his conflict with Lieseke and indicated that he had contacted the lawyer because "he feared possible recriminations from Sheriff Lieseke should he truthfully relate the facts and circumstances surrounding the arrest of the three subjects."

According to the motion Cristalli filed on Murphy's behalf, Huggins' affidavit supports Tabish's assertion that he had permission to remove the silver. Lieseke, who lost his bid for re-election in 2002, denied he authorized Tabish to take the silver.

"The truth is impossible to determine because Lieseke's entire testimony about this matter has been fraught with perjury," Cristalli wrote.

The motion claims defense counsel did not have access to the evidence from Huggins until they were informed, after the 2004 trial, that Huggins' deposition had been taken in connection with a lawsuit he filed against Lieseke.

"The state had access to the deposition and failed to submit said deposition to the defense, despite numerous discovery requests for relevant information," Cristalli wrote.

The motion also claims Vitto, "being an officer of the court," had a duty to inform the defense of Huggins' incomplete report. No affidavit from Vitto was included in any of the court documents.

Huggins filed a defamation lawsuit against Lieseke in connection with comments the sheriff made to reporters at the start of the first murder trial. The parties later settled the case.

In a recent court document, Murphy accused prosecutors of intentionally withholding evidence for nine years about Lieseke's exculpatory comments to Huggins regarding Tabish.

"It goes to the heart of the defendants' defense, not just for Tabish but for Murphy, who was found guilty by mere association, conjecture and innuendo at the retrial," according to the document.

Prosecutors argue that Murphy's attorneys have presented no new evidence, and they point out that Huggins testified at trial.

"There is no question that defendant was aware of the discrepancies between the story told by Steve Huggins and that told by Sheriff Lieseke," Assistant District Attorney Christopher Lalli wrote in a December 2006 opposition to Murphy's motion.

Murphy also cannot show that Huggins' evidence "would make it reasonably probable that a different result would occur at a new trial," Lalli wrote.

According to the prosecution document, an affidavit from Huggins was presented in an earlier motion for a new trial by Tabish, and that motion was denied in March 2005. In addition, Lalli contends that Murphy's "attempts to influence witnesses are well-documented."

The prosecutor also accuses Murphy of waiting to file her motion until her prison sentence had expired.

"In essence, defendant is asking for a new trial with no risk to herself," Lalli wrote. "If the state prevails, defendant could not be re-sentenced beyond the original concurrent sentences which she has already served."

In court last week, Lalli said prosecutors do not contest the defense witnesses' version of events. They simply contest the characterization of the evidence as "newly discovered," he said, arguing that the defense had the information as far back as 1999.

Gonzalez asked Lalli to supplement the record to show specifically what information was disclosed to the defense before trial. She has scheduled another hearing for Dec. 5.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0264.