Nye sergeants place Tabish at death scene

Two Nye County police sergeants, in court testimony Monday, placed Rick Tabish at Ted Binion's home in the hours before the former casino executive's Sept. 17 murder.

Ed Howard and Steve Huggins, who has since left the Nye County Sheriff's Department, participated in the arrest of Tabish and two other men charged with trying to steal Binion's silver fortune in Pahrump two days after his death.

Both testified that the Montana contractor said during his Sept. 19 arrest that Binion had told Tabish the day he died that he was going to take an entire bottle of the prescription sedative Xanax and go to sleep to cleanse himself of heroin.

The testimony came in the courtroom of Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti in the preliminary hearing for Tabish and Binion's 27-year-old girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, who are charged with his slaying. The hearing is taking place to determine whether Murphy and Tabish, reported to be lovers at the time of the gambling figure's death, should stand trial.

Binion's body was found at his 2408 Palomino Lane home at 3:55 p.m. Sept. 17 next to an empty bottle of Xanax.

Prosecutors believe Binion's killers tried to pump his body with heroin and Xanax and then suffocated him as part of a plot to make it look as though he had died of an accidental drug overdose.

Tabish, one of his employees, Michael Milot, and David Mattsen, a former Binion ranch manager in Pahrump, were arrested about 5 a.m. Sept. 19 after they had used heavy equipment to dig up an estimated $4 million in silver Binion had buried in an underground vault.

Las Vegas bail bondsman Dario Costantino testified Monday that Murphy posted the $100,000 bail for both Tabish and Milot the day after their arrests.

Murphy, later charged in the attempted theft, used a black Mercedes sports coup Binion had bought for her, as well as some jewelry, as collateral, Costantino said.

Once out of jail, Tabish then posted the $15,000 bail for Mattsen, Costantino said.

Barbara Brown, the 55-year-old Binion's longtime real estate agent, also took the witness stand Monday to describe a disturbing telephone conversation she had with Murphy about noon on Sept. 17.

Brown said she telephoned Binion's home to confirm a luncheon appointment the next day and encountered a distressed Murphy.

Murphy told Brown that Binion was sick and didn't want to see anyone and that she had a big mess on her hands in a bathroom. Brown quoted Murphy as saying no one understands what it's like living with a drug addict.

Homicide detectives believe Binion already was dead by that phone call.

Among those on today's witness list was Binion's heroin dealer, Peter Sheridan, who was expected to talk about the former casino executive's last heroin deal. Sheridan has told homicide detectives he provided Binion with 12 balloons or doses of tar heroin the night before his death.

Two of Binion's estate lawyers, Richard Wright and James Brown, also were listed as witnesses today.

Wright was expected to testify that he never gave the 34-year-old Tabish permission to dig up the 48,000 pounds of silver in Pahrump. Wright also was with Murphy and Tabish in the hours immediately after Binion's death.

Brown has told investigators that Binion expressed concern the day before his death that Murphy might try to harm him and asked the attorney to cut her out of his will.

Brown was present when Murphy gave a videotaped tour of the inside of Binion's home the day after his death in anticipation of a battle with his estate.

On the videotape, Murphy is seen taking what appears to be a wine glass from an island counter in the kitchen. Detectives believe the glass may have played a role in Binion's death. An autopsy on Binion's body found a liquid mixture of heroin and Xanax in his stomach. The videotape was expected to be introduced during testimony today.

On Monday, both Howard and Huggins testified that they became suspicious of their boss, County Sheriff Wade Lieseke, the night they arrested Tabish in Pahrump.

Howard said Lieseke wasn't acting normal and appeared "very agitated."

Tabish contends he telephoned Lieseke three times before digging up the silver to let him know he was coming to Pahrump.

Huggins said Tabish told him at the scene that Binion wanted him to give the sheriff $100,000 for allowing them to take possession of the silver.

Lieseke, Huggins said, did not believe sheriff's deputies should arrest Tabish and his associates.

Tabish told deputies he was acting under orders from Binion in the event of his death to turn the silver into cash and set up a trust account for Binion's 19-year-old daughter, Bonnie, Huggins testified.

Both Howard and Huggins said Lieseke participated in a jailhouse interview of Tabish after his arrest and commandeered the tape of the interview.

At the time, Lieseke was embroiled in a bitter re-election campaign and was said to be afraid of suffering political fallout over the silver case, they said.

Huggins, who later left the sheriff's department after falling out of favor with Lieseke, had been supporting the sheriff's unsuccessful opponent.

Lieseke, who's likely to be called as a defense witness in the preliminary hearing, has denied any involvement in the attempted theft.

He has acknowledged receiving phone calls from Tabish, but he has insisted for months that he was not made aware of Tabish's plans to take the silver.

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