LAS VEGAS — In a 180-degree turn from earlier testimony, a witness told jurors Tuesday that a conversation he had with murder defendant Rick Tabish about the ways they could kill gaming heir Ted Binion was all "a joke."

"He said he wanted to kill him, or he wanted me to do it, and we started laughing — that kind of cynical humor," said Kurt Gratzer, a former employee and friend of Tabish.

Gratzer appeared lethargic and was so argumentative during direct testimony that the judge allowed prosecutors to question him as a hostile witness.

Among the murder methods Tabish and Gratzer discussed, according to Gratzer's previous statements, was forcing the millionaire to consume a lethal combination of heroin and Xanax.

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"You're making more out of it than it was at the time," Gratzer said to prosecutor Christopher Lalli as Lalli read from transcripts of Gratzer's prior statements.

"As circumstances would have it, this man died," Lalli shot back.

"Your honor, I'm not going to mislead this jury for a moment," Gratzer said. "I'm not going to let it happen."

Lalli reminded Gratzer that he and Tabish discussed using a stick to shove the drugs down Binion's throat and inquired with a pharmacist about lethal dose levels. "When you tell a joke, you got to have details," Gratzer said.

The pharmacist, a friend of Gratzer's, testified Tuesday afternoon and confirmed the phone call, but could not recall the specific drugs he was asked about.

Tabish, 39, and his former lover, Sandra Murphy, 32, are charged with murder, robbery, burglary and grand larceny for the Sept. 17, 1998, death of Murphy's boyfriend, gambling heir and longtime heroin addict Ted Binion.

At one point during cross-examination, Gratzer said that Murphy "didn't know anything about" the "jocular conversation" he and Tabish had about conspiring to kill Binion.

Murphy says she discovered her 55-year-old boyfriend dead on the living room floor of the home they shared. At his side was an empty bottle of Xanax. A lethal amount of heroin, from the entire 12 balloons of black tar heroin he purchased the day before, was discovered in his system.

Tabish allegedly promised Gratzer from $100,000 to $3 million for his help. But Gratzer was in Missoula, Mont., when Binion died. He and friend Terry Sweeney were heading to the annual "Testicle Festival," where partygoers consume and celebrate "Rocky Mountain oysters," or bull's testicles.

Sweeney testified Tuesday that Gratzer confided that Tabish asked him "to come down to Vegas and take care of a guy" whose girlfriend Tabish was sleeping with.

After Binion's death, his family conducted an intense investigation and Murphy and Tabish were arrested nine months later. Gratzer was one of several witnesses who received award money from the Binion's in exchange for information.

In 2000, jurors took eight days to convict the pair of all charges.

In July 2003, an appeals court ruled that the couple did not receive a fair trial. Now, Murphy and Tabish sit just feet apart, co-defendants for a second time, in a murder trial that has once again captivated the attention of local media and the Sin City community.

Changing sides

Gratzer was a star witness for the prosecution in the original trial, in which he claimed Tabish approached him with "a special mission" to kill a "rich Vegas casino owner named Ted."

But on Tuesday, Gratzer charged that "the government had an ability to control" him.

"I didn't want to testify for the prosecution, and I don't want to testify for the defense either," Gratzer said during one of his many rambling answers. "If I had an opportunity to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I'd be happy to be here."

Outside of the presence of the jury and the witness, the prosecution argued to Judge Joseph Bonaventure that Gratzer was doing an about-face because his $35,000 in legal fees for a series of felony DUI convictions were being paid for by a member of Murphy's defense team.

According to Lalli, attorney John Prendeville arranged for the payment. Prendeville is an employee of elderly millionaire mining executive William Fuller, who has been Murphy's friend and benefactor in both trials.

"Are you trying to tell me this Prendeville had nothing to do with you?" Bonaventure asked Murphy's attorney Michael Cristalli.

Cristalli denied that Prendeville was on their team. But Lalli said Fuller identified himself as a member of Murphy's defense team on an affidavit. Bonaventure ultimately ruled that jurors would not hear questioning about the legal payments.

Prosecutors also argued to the judge that a key statement made by Gratzer was "an absolute lie."

During direct examination, Gratzer said Tabish mentioned that Binion was concerned that if he died, his family would pillage the $7 million in silver and rare coins in a vault that was buried on his Pahrump ranch. According to Gratzer, Tabish said Binion asked him to secure the treasure for his daughter, Bonnie, in the event of his death.

Prosecutors contend that Tabish — who was caught digging up the vault at night just after Binion's death — was attempting to steal the riches for himself.

"Isn't it true you've testified in a number of proceedings and you've never said anything like that?" Lalli asked.

"Well, there's more to it," Gratzer said. "I'm not allowed to tell the truth here, apparently."

Gratzer conceded that he was on several different medications, and named drugs that are commonly prescribed for bipolar mania, depression and panic disorder.

'Some kind of drug psychosis'

Although Gratzer appeared to be a sympathetic witness to Tabish, he was grilled by Tabish's attorney, Tony Serra, during cross-examination.

Serra rehashed Gratzer's prior damaging statements about Tabish's alleged plot to kill Binion and Gratzer appeared to be distancing himself from those statements.

During a tedious cross-examination that lasted more than two hours, Serra attempted to establish that Gratzer was a destitute drug addict who testified against Tabish in the first trial because the Binion family paid him a $20,000 reward.

He suggested that Gratzer's alleged conversation with Tabish was "some kind of drug psychosis."

He also mocked Gratzer's short-lived Ranger service in the military, making faces while mimicking the witness.

A stone-faced Gratzer replied, "I never claimed to be a war hero," and then smiled as he shot back at the pony-tailed defense attorney, "You're still in Haight-Ashbury."

During cross-examination of "Testicle Festival" partygoer Sweeney, defense attorney Joseph Caramagno procured the witness' initial police statement, and pointed out that he never mentioned Gratzer's comment about Tabish wanting him to "take care of a guy."

Sweeney stated that when news of Binion's death was published in a Sept. 18 newspaper article, Gratzer threatened his life. He said he was told to keep quiet about their conversation, which is why he initially withheld the information from the police.

Jurors also heard from Montana Corrections Officer Tim Boileau, a reluctant state witness whose original statements to detectives were the subject of an evidentiary hearing on Monday when Serra accused the government of outrageous conduct.

Boileau testified that Gratzer told him prior to Binion's death that "Mr. Tabish wanted him to come down to Vegas to kill a casino owner for $100,000. He referenced that the casino owner was going out with a stripper and he treated her badly."

He said he was startled days later when a newspaper in Missoula reported Binion's death.

On cross-examination, jurors learned that Boileau was led to believe by the detectives who arrived unannounced at his father's home to interview him that he would be a "shoe-in" for a $50,000-a-year job at the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department.

Boileau was making about $12,000 a year at the time. "My attitude was certainly influenced," Boileau said. "I was extremely excited about a great opportunity."

He never got the job.

Murphy and Tabish are being retried together. They previously received sentences of 21 and 25 years respectively. If convicted, Murphy faces 22 years to life in prison; Tabish faces 25 years to life.