LAS VEGAS — A day before casino heir Ted Binion's lifeless body was found on the floor of his den, the millionaire was making arrangements to have his live-in girlfriend, Sandra Murphy, taken out of his will, said an attorney who testified Wednesday at Murphy's murder trial.

"Without telling me what was discussed, how did he sound to you?" Prosecutor Robert Daskas asked Binion's attorney and friend James Brown.

"Sounded fine, sounded normal," Brown said.

"What did you do after that conversation?" Daskas asked.

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"At 8 o'clock the next morning, I took Sandy out of the will," Brown said.

"Did Mr. Binion ever make it to your office to sign that will, that codicil?" the prosecutor asked.

"No," Brown said.

In fact, at 3:55 p.m. on Sept. 17, 1998, Murphy made a frantic 911 call to report that her "husband stopped breathing." The couple had lived together for a little more than three years, but never married.

Paramedics pronounced Binion dead on the scene when they arrived two minutes later. At 55, the long-time heroin addict's death was initially ruled an overdose.

Nine months later, however, after an intense investigation by the Binion family, Murphy and her secret lover, Richard Tabish, were arrested and charged with murder.

Prosecutors say the pair forced heroin and Xanax down Binion's throat and suffocated him to death as part of a plot to steal his millions in silver stored in a vault buried in the desert.

Murphy, 32, and Tabish, 39, admit they were lovers, but claim they had nothing to do with Binion's death.

A jury found them guilty of all charges in 2000, but the convictions were overturned on appeal three years later, in part because a portion of Brown's testimony was deemed too prejudicial.

In the original trial, Brown testified that Binion told him, "Take Sandy out of the will if she doesn't kill me tonight."

Jurors were not thoroughly instructed, the appeals court ruled, to consider Binion's eve of death statement as an indication of his state of mind, not as a fact in evidence.

Brown gave cautious testimony Wednesday, but successfully implied that Binion was worth more to Murphy dead than alive.

According to Brown, the couple entered into a cohabitation agreement that stated if they split, Murphy would get to keep her black Mercedes 560 SL, profits from the sale of casino stocks, and her personal belongings, such as clothing and shoes.

In July, just two months before his death, Binion added Murphy to his will. In the event of his death, according to Brown, Murphy would also receive their Palamino Lane home, its contents and $300,000.

Crime scene investigation

Jurors also viewed dozens of photos of the alleged crime scene Wednesday as detectives testified about evidence, including drug paraphernalia and an ominous "Rest in Peace" sign hanging outside Binion's home after his death.

Prosecutors allege that Murphy and Tabish closed all the drapes, killed Binion between 9 a.m. and noon, moved evidence to make the death look like an overdose, and then pillaged his home of cash and valuables.

Crime scene analyst Mike Perkins testified about his three visits to the house.

As Perkins spoke, a photo was projected of the deceased tycoon, laying on a mat on the den floor, wearing only a partially buttoned shirt and white briefs. Binion's head was on a pillow. To his right on the floor lay an empty prescription bottle of Xanax, three lighters, a pack of Vantage cigarettes and a TV remote control.

A fingerprint expert testified that he found no prints, not even ridge details, on any of the items. But he did examine what appeared to be two work-boot prints on a box spring in one bedroom. No footwear was ever produced to match the print.

Along the floor of the den carpet, Perkins said, he observed "droplets" or drip marks that were streaked diagonally from the doorway up to the area where Binion's body was found.

Perkins said the marks were inconclusive, but during his testimony Murphy could be heard whispering to her attorney, "I spilled red wine on the carpet."

Murphy appears to be very involved in her defense, and is often seen taking notes and making suggestions to her counsel.

Heroin room

The den's bathroom is where, previous witnesses testified, Binion typically went to "chase the dragon," or inhale the vapors of heroin heated on a piece of aluminum foil. A drug dealer testified that he sold Binion 12 balloons containing Mexican black tar heroin on the eve of the tycoon's death.

Jurors saw several photographs Wednesday of the bathroom as it appeared when detectives arrived.

On a small table next to the toilet lay a piece of foil, a folding pocket knife, and an ashtray with three cigarette butts. An artificial plant sitting nearby had been knocked over, its filling spilled out onto floor, and two small pieces of red balloon could be seen on the tile. In the trash can was another piece of pink balloon and crumpled up foil.

A photo of the security alarm system near the front door had a loose wire and appeared to have been tampered with, Perkins said.

Jurors also viewed the contents of a small black purse, found in the home, which belonged to Murphy. Inside was a torn in half check that Binion had written to Murphy in the amount of $8,000. A notation of "PM" in the memo line was Binion's abbreviation for "pocket money," according to previous witnesses. Other items included her passport, an astrology readout, a coin purse and a vehicle remote control.

Outside the presence of the jurors, attorneys argued over allowing testimony about a plastic glow-in-the-dark Halloween decoration Perkins noticed by the front door. The item depicted a goblin looming over a R.I.P.-marked tombstone.

Prosecutor Christopher Lalli argued that jurors would hear evidence that Tabish cleaned out the vault in Pahrump, leaving a single silver dollar, and a safe at the home, leaving behind one dime. He characterized the morbid decoration — six weeks prior to Halloween — as a signature of the couple's sick humor.

Murphy's attorney Michael Cristalli countered that it made little sense that the codefendants "would go to trouble of drawing the shades" to cloak their murder, as the prosecution contends, "and then go out and put the sign up in broad daylight."

Cristalli suggested that Binion may have put up the decoration, given his odd behavior when he was doing drugs. The judge allowed the R.I.P. testimony, however.

'If I get lucky'

Cristalli was allowed to present a photo to jurors that featured a note Binion scrawled on the inside of an empty safe in his home.

In messy, childlike writing, the eccentric tycoon's message read: "Empty of value. No money. If I get lucky and catch you stealing my money, I'm gonna kill you if I get lucky."

Attorney James Brown will resume his testimony on Thursday morning. The prosecution expects to rest its case next week.

Tabish and Murphy face 20 years to life in prison if convicted.

Court TV Extra is streaming the trial live on the Web.