Murphy targeted in secret probe

Prosecutors secretly investigated a tip last October that Sandy Murphy might flee to the Philippines before her trial on charges of killing Ted Binion, the Sun has learned.

The tip was received as the 28-year-old Murphy and her lawyers were asking District Judge Joseph Bonaventure to reduce her $300,000 bail to $100,000 and release her from house arrest.

As part of the probe, homicide detectives kept Murphy under surveillance the week of an Oct. 15 bail hearing before Bonaventure, law enforcement sources said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the Binion murder case, obtained a sealed order Oct. 12 from District Judge Michael Douglas to install a pen register on the telephone at Murphy's Henderson apartment that would trace all incoming and outgoing calls, records obtained by the Sun show.

The pen register, law enforcement sources said, lasted for two months and was renewed for another two months until Feb. 14.

The investigation was revealed to defense lawyers late last month after Bonaventure unsealed the orders seeking the register.

Murphy's attorney, John Momot, today denied that Murphy planned to flee the country before the start of her March 27 trial.

"That's ridiculous," Momot said. "This lady wants to go to trial. She's been working lockstep with us all the way for many months. She wants to go forward."

In a two-page sworn affidavit attached to the pen register application, Ernest Smith, an investigator in the district attorney's office, said the probe was launched after homicide detectives received an anonymous phone call from a man who said he owned a Southern California airline service.

The caller, Smith said, said that someone had offered him $200,000 to fly Murphy to the Philippines.

Smith pointed out in the affidavit that Murphy coincidentally was seeking a $200,000 reduction of her bail.

He said detectives also received another anonymous call from someone who said he was a locksmith offered money to remove the electronic ankle bracelet house arrest officials use to keep track of Murphy.

"Presently law enforcement officers are conducting surveillance on Murphy's apartment," Smith wrote. "It is the opinion of all officers cognizant of this matter that the use of a (pen register) ... would further the investigation and identify a possible Murphy escape from house arrest."

The phone at the Henderson apartment was registered in the name of Jason Frazer, a Montana business associate of Murphy's co-defendant, Rick Tabish.

Frazer, who once stayed at Murphy's apartment, has since been granted immunity to testify at the trial about an alleged plot by Tabish to pay off alibi witnesses.

As police, meanwhile, put Murphy under surveillance before the October bail hearing, Roger filed court papers seeking to revoke her $300,000 bond.

Roger also sought to keep Tabish, who turns 35 today, in jail on no bail.

At the Oct. 15 hearing Bonaventure refused to alter the bail status of either Murphy or Tabish.

The surveillance of Murphy was terminated after the hearing, law enforcement sources said.

Police have alleged that Murphy, a one-time topless dancer who lived with the wealthy Binion for three years, and Tabish, a married Montana contractor, were romantically involved when they plotted Binion's death.

They have been charged with pumping the former casino executive with drugs at his Las Vegas home, suffocating him and then stealing his valuables.

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