Sin City prepares for trial sequel

Chris Summers
BBC News Online

Four years ago a former topless dancer and her lover were jailed for life for murdering casino millionaire Ted Binion. But now their convictions have been overturned and they face a retrial in the autumn.

Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish listen as they are sentenced to life

Las Vegas is a city which knows how to host a spectacle, and that includes criminal trials.

Four years ago millions of Americans tuned into Court TV to watch one of the most dramatic and fascinating trials in Nevada's history.

Sandy Murphy, a former topless dancer, and her married lover Rick Tabish were jailed for life for the murder of casino millionaire Ted Binion.

Prosecutors claimed the pair plied Binion with heroin and Xanax and then smothered him, using a technique known as "burking" after the 19th century killer William Burke.

Binion, who was worth $55m, was a regular heroin user whose father Benny founded one of the city's most famous casinos, Binion's Horseshoe, in 1952.

Ted Binion timeline May 1997: Ted Binion's gaming licence suspended because of his drug use and ties to organised crime figures such as "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein. 17 September 1998: Binion dies of a heroin and Xanax overdose at his Las Vegas home 19 May 2000: Sandra Murphy and Rick Tabish convicted of Binion's murder 14 July 2003: Murphy and Tabish's murder convictions overturned and a new trial is ordered March 2004: Binion family sells Binion's Horseshoe to MTR Gaming Group Inc

The trial heard how Binion left his wife Doris in 1995 after beginning an affair with Murphy, a dancer at an adult nightclub.

She moved in with him but it was a stormy affair, exacerbated by the pair's drug abuse.

In 1997 the Nevada Gaming Control Board took away his gaming licence - effectively denying him any role at the Horseshoe - because of his drug problems and ties with organised crime figures.

The following year Murphy began an affair with Tabish, a haulage firm boss with a wife and family back in Montana.

Prosecutors claimed the pair plotted to kill Binion so they could steal $7m worth of silver bullion buried in a vault beneath his ranch in Pahrump, Nevada.

The trial heard how Binion's lawyer James J Brown claimed the millionaire told him on the night he died: "Take Sandy out of the will if she doesn't kill me tonight. If I'm dead, you'll know what happened."

But last year the Nevada Supreme Court overturned the pair's conviction and ordered a new trial.

Jury 'unfairly influenced'

The court ruled the jury may have been unfairly influenced by hearing allegations Tabish extorted, kidnapped and beat a Nevada sandpit owner, Leo Casey, in July 1998.

She is a very sweet person from a stable family background. Her portrayal as a stripper and a person of loose morals is inaccurate Dick DeGuerin Sandra Murphy's lawyer

The supreme court decided Murphy and Tabish both deserved a retrial, although the conviction against him for the extortion and kidnap was upheld.

A spokesman for Binion's sister, Becky Behnen, said she was disappointed by the supreme court ruling but added: "We feel that the same evidence that convicted these individuals the first time is still there and that justice will ultimately prevail in another trial."

A new trial is pencilled in for October but it will be almost impossible to find a juror whose mind is not already made up about their guilt or innocence.

Murphy's former lawyer, John Momot, said: "There are so many people in Las Vegas who believe she is innocent and deserves an acquittal. The city is pretty much divided 50-50."

Binion's Horseshoe is one of the oldest casinos in Las Vegas

Murphy, whose legal bills are being paid by an elderly benefactor, has hired a new lawyer, one of the best in the business.

Dick DeGuerin, from Texas, won an acquittal for property tycoon Robert Durst, who admitted killing a man and cutting up his body but claimed self-defence. He also represented David Koresh, the head of the Branch Davidian cult in Waco.

Mr DeGuerin told BBC News Online: "It's clear that Ted Binion died of an overdose of heroin and Xanax."

He said he will produce new evidence which destroys the prosecution's claims that Binion was "burked", alleging that a convicted felon called Avery Church had told the FBI he was hired to kill Binion.

We feel that the same evidence that convicted these individuals the first time is still there and that justice will ultimately prevail in another trial Becky Behnen Binion's sister

Of Murphy, Mr DeGuerin said: "She is a very sweet person from a stable family background. Her portrayal as a stripper and a person of loose morals is inaccurate.

"She came to Las Vegas and unfortunately she fell in love with Teddy Binion. She was in love with him despite all of his faults."

Casino sold off

Earlier this year the Binion family finally lost control of Binion's Horseshoe, source of Ted Binion's wealth.

In January the famous casino was raided by US Marshals who seized $700,000 in cash from croupiers, bartenders and scantily clad waitresses.

The saga made for sensational reading

The raid was authorised because the owners owed $2.1m in insurance payments to the 1,000 employees.

The landmark casino, home of the World Series of Poker, remained closed for three months.

Eventually Ted Binion's sister, Becky Behnen Binion, sold the Horseshoe to the West Virginia-based MTR Gaming Group for $20m.

The Horseshoe reopened last month under new management and the money is piling up in the cash cages again.

Jeff German, veteran Las Vegas journalist and author of a book on the case, said Binion's daughter Bonnie had inherited his $55m fortune but he said if Murphy was acquitted in October she was expected to come gunning for what she believed was her share.