Judge Joseph Bonaventure issued his ruling after a hearing in which Sandy Murphy's lawyer, Herb Sachs, accused the prosecution and Binion's wealthy estate of setting up his client on murder charges.

"There was not one witness who was wasn't paid by the district attorney's office or the Binion estate," Sachs said.

David Roger, lead prosecutor in the murder trial, told the judge Murphy was a flight risk, a danger to the community and didn't deserve to be free on appeal.

Murphy and her lover, Montana contractor Rick Tabish, were convicted last year of killing the 55-year-old Binion at the Las Vegas home where he lived with Murphy, a former topless dancer.

Prosecutors said Murphy and Tabish forced the well-known gambler to ingest heroin and a prescription sedative, then suffocated him. They allegedly killed Binion to steal his buried treasure of more than $5 million in silver.

Both were sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.