Six ordered to stand trial in Ted Binion case

The live-in girlfriend of Ted Binion and her reputed lover have been ordered to stand trial in the death of the controversial gambling figure.

Sandra Murphy and Rick Tabish showed little emotion Monday afternoon when Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti ordered them bound over on a variety of charges, including murder.

Four men arrested on charges growing out of Binion's death were also ordered bound over for trial.

Togliatti spent more than an hour reviewing the questions raised in a preliminary hearing for the six defendants that wound up Sept. 1 after nearly three weeks.

Togliatti set an arraignment date of Sept. 27 in state District Court. The complex case is not expected to go to trial for months.

Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said he and a committee from his office would meet within the next two weeks to determine whether to seek the death penalty for Ms. Murphy and Tabish.

Binion, a member of a prominent Nevada casino clan, was killed Sept. 17. Death was originally thought to be from an overdose of heroin and the prescription drug Xanax, but medical examiners now say it could have also been caused by asphyxiation.

Binion lost his gambling license because of drug use and association with unsavory characters.

Only Ms. Murphy, a former topless dancer, and Tabish, a former contractor from Missoula, Mont., were charged in Binion's murder. Prosecutors alleged Ms. Murphy and Tabish were lovers, and that Binion found out about the relationship and planned to cut her out of his will.

Ms. Murphy, Tabish, Steven Wadkins and John Joseph are charged with kidnapping, assault and extortion in a kidnapping case involving sand pit operator Leo Casey. Casey was a prosecution witness in the preliminary hearing.

And Ms. Murphy, Tabish, David Mattsen and Michael Milot are charged with the attempted theft of $7 million in Binion's silver from an underground vault in Pahrump, Nev. two days after Binion's death at his Las Vegas home.

In closing arguments Sept. 1, prosecutor David Roger argued that Ms. Murphy killed Binion because she wanted to end the relationship, but still wanted the gambling figure's money.

Roger contended Ms. Murphy knew she had been written out of Binion's will and that their relationship was on the rocks.

The prosecutor alleged that Tabish, Ms. Murphy's new lover, needed money to buy into a sand pit operation, so the two plotted to kill Binion and steal his fortune.

Roger said Ms. Murphy and Tabish planned to slowly overdose Binion on heroin and the prescription drug Xanax, but when they were interrupted, the two suffocated Binion.

"This wasn't an accidental overdose. This was murder," Roger argued.

Defense attorneys, who have sought to portray Binion as a sick drug addict who overdosed, attacked the credibility of some of the hearing's witnesses, including Casey, a 64-year-old Jean, Nev. sand pit operator.

Casey had testified that Tabish and Wadkins tortured him until he gave up his interest in the pit. Casey said the torture two months before Binion's murder was ordered by Joseph.

Togliatti said it would be up to a jury to determine the credibility of Casey and other prosecution witnesses.

"This court has heard arguably only a fraction of the evidence in this case," referring to it as only "the tip of the iceberg."

In discussing the players in the case, she said, "Stories written in hell do not have angels for characters."

The preliminary hearing was not designed to determine the guilt or innocence of the six, but only whether there was reasonable cause to send the case to trial.

Togliatti ordered that Tabish remain in custody without bail. Earlier she released Ms. Murphy on house arrest after the defendant posted $300,000 cash bail.

Wadkins, Joseph, Mattsen and Milot are also free on bail.

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