Emotions run high as hearing crawls along

Tempers have been flaring in the courtroom of Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti, as the preliminary hearing for Ted Binion's accused killers continues to move at a snail's pace.

Togliatti, who has been holding sessions into the evening and weekends to accommodate her regular court schedule, snapped at Sandy Murphy's lawyer, Bill Terry, a couple of times on Wednesday.

At one point, when Terry suggested Togliatti was trying to limit his cross examination of a witness, Togliatti proceeded to lecture Terry and the other defense lawyers that they were needlessly dragging out the hearing by asking repetitive questions.

Toward the end of the day's session, Terry suggested that video surveillance expert Thomas McCracken was answering questions under cross examination with a "smirk" on his face.

That prompted an angry Togliatti to warn Terry that she could say the same thing about his client, who often has been observed glaring or laughing at witnesses, even mouthing words to them, from the defense table.

Murphy's co-defendant in Binion's murder, Rick Tabish, has on occasion shaken his head or laughed at a witness, as well. So have some of the other defendants charged with related crimes, such as David Mattsen.

Earlier Wednesday, when a former Tabish employee, truck driver Jared Pace, was being cross-examined on the witness stand, Tabish's older brother, Greg, began laughing loudly in the gallery. Togliatti sent her bailiff into the gallery to instruct the older Tabish to keep quiet.

Even prosecutors have felt the pressure of the high-profile case, which is expected to spill over into its third week on Tuesday.

During Pace's testimony, Deputy District Attorney David Wall lashed out at defense lawyer Tony Sgro for misstating Pace's previous comments to investigators.

And on Tuesday, Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, ripped into Mattsen's defense attorney, James "Bucky" Buchanan, after Buchanan had asked Togliatti to remind Binion's heroin supplier that he was testifying to committing a felony crime when discussing the former casino executive's last drug deal.

Homicide detectives previously had made it clear they weren't interested in pursuing criminal charges against the supplier who agreed to cooperate in the murder investigation.

At a sidebar discussion with Togliatti, Roger could be overheard accusing Buchanan of trying to intimidate the heroin dealer.

Just prior to that heated exchange, Roger had been told by a court bailiff that the previous witness had complained during a break about being intimidated by Buchanan in the hallway before returning to the witness stand.

Prosecutors expect to call a total of 33 witnesses at the preliminary hearing, which is turning into the one of the longest ever at the courthouse.

Defense attorneys plan to call witnesses next week before Togliatti decides whether Binion's accused killers should stand trial.

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