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Binion Case Index



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Updated May 22, 2000, 7:30 p.m. ET

Penalty phase begins in Binion murder trial

The same jurors who convicted Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish of murder will decide their punishment. (Court TV)

By Laura Barandes
Court TV

LAS VEGAS — The penalty phase against Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, convicted of killing Las Vegas millionaire Ted Binion, will begin Tuesday with an onslaught of prosecution witnesses. None are likely to have much good to say about Murphy and Tabish

Murphy, Binion's live-in girlfriend, and Tabish, her lover, were convicted Friday night of murdering the gaming mogul to steal his fortune. Tabish was also convicted on separate charges of torturing businessman Leo Casey into signing over his share of the Jean Sand Pit business.

PROSECUTION WITNESS LIST

Larry Jackson
Rick Newlon
Stephan Bryant
Donald Persicke
Jack Galahan
Mike O’Hara
Shane Kortan
Bob Weaver
Dusty Deschamp
Kathleen Bicari
Joe Gonzaque
Stan White
Jack Binion
Becky Behnen
Brenda Michael
Bonnie Binion

However, this penalty phase deals exclusively with the first degree murder conviction. Murphy and Tabish face life without parole, life with the possibility of parole after 20 years, or 50 years with the possibility of parole in 20 years. Had jurors found the murder was committed with a deadly weapon, the Xanax, the penalties would have been doubled.

Among those expected to take the stand Tuesday are Binion's siblings and his 19-year-old daughter.

Becky Behnan, Binion's sister and by far the most outspoken on the case, has openly blasted Murphy in the media.

"I've never seen a more greedy person [than Murphy] in my life," Behnan told Court TV. Behnan was also fast to blame her brother's live-in girlfriend for any deterioration in his behavior. "She is very manipulative," said Behnan.

And what would Binion himself have said when Murphy was convicted? "The bitch got what she deserved," Behnan readily suggested.

Bonnie Binion, the late millionaire's daughter, is also on the prosecutions list of witnesses. The only member of Binion's immediate family to testify during the trial phase, Bonnie Binion said Murphy might have been jealous of her relationship with her father. She also accused Murphy of threatening her.

"My father came out and got in the car, and Miss Murphy came outside and she was screaming and yelling at him and me, that she didn't want me on her property, and that she would call the police if I didn't leave," Bonnie testified. "She called me a bitch."

The college student stands to inherit the bulk of her father's estate, an estimated $55 million.

Binion's brother Jack, the executor of the will, is also expected to testify Tuesday.

As for Rick Tabish, Murphy's lover, the prosecution has lined up several witnesses, some from his native Montana, to dirty him further for sentencing.

Murphy and Tabish must now look again to the jurors who convicted them of murder just days earlier. Whatever happens this week, defense attorneys John Momot and Louis Palazzo say they plan to appeal.

   

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