Bail set for man whose name came up during Binion trial

By Matt Pordum

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004 | 8:49 a.m.

A man whose convictions for attempted murder, robbery and kidnapping were overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court had his bail set at $500,000 by District Judge Donald Mosley on Monday while awaiting a retrial.

Avery Church, 28, had been serving a sentence of eight years to life in prison as a result of the beating and torturing of a man in southeast Las Vegas in a dispute over money.

Church is accused of putting a noose around the neck of his victim, dragging him around by the noose and stabbing him in the head.

The state's high court ruled that the manner in which evidence was introduced in Church's trial had led to an unfair conviction.

Prosecutors had said they wouldn't introduce tapes of jailhouse conversations Church had with his girlfriend unless Church's girlfriend testified, Church's lawyer, David Amesbury said.

The girlfriend never testified, but the state used the tapes in the trial anyway, which equated to prosecutors "having their cake and eating it too," Amesbury said.

While serving his prison time, Church allegedly told federal authorities he had information that could potentially clear Rick Tabish and Sandy Murphy.

Last month a Clark County jury acquitted Tabish and Murphy of murdering Binion but found them guilty of conspiracy and burglary/larceny charges related to the attempted theft of Binion's cache of silver.

During the six-week trial featuring more than 150 witnesses, Church was never called as a witness or even referred to by the prosecution or the defense.

Prosecutors would later allege John Prendeville, working as part of Murphy's defense team, offered an unnamed favor to Church if he provided him with "information he wanted to hear" about Murphy and Tabish.