LAS VEGAS — A private investigator who analyzed the phone records of Rick Tabish and Sandra Murphy told jurors Thursday that Tabish neither answered nor made any calls from his cell phone during the hour in which medical experts have said casino tycoon Ted Binion died.

Prosecutors hope Tabish's lack of phone activity from about 9 to 10 a.m. on Sept. 17, 1998, will convince jurors that the Montana entrepreneur and Murphy had enough time to murder Binion and empty the millionaire's Las Vegas mansion of valuables.

The state rested its case Thursday against Murphy and Tabish following 15 days of testimony.

Robert Leonard, a former homicide detective hired by Binion estate private investigator Tom Dillard to analyze phone records, was the last prosecution witness.

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Murphy and Tabish are charged with six counts including murder, burglary and grand larceny. A jury found the couple guilty of all charges in 2000, but an appeals court overturned the convictions and paved the way for the retrial, now in its fourth week.

Phone evidence

Focusing on the days surrounding Binion's death, prosecutors charted a flurry of phone calls between Tabish, Murphy and David Lee Matteson, a worker at the Binion family ranch in Pahrump, Nevada.

Matteson was arrested, along with Tabish and Michael Milot, the night after Binion's death when the three were caught plundering the eccentric casino heir's underground desert vault containing about $7 million in silver and rare coins.

After analyzing calling patterns, Leonard said he was able to deduce what phones Tabish and Murphy were using and whom they were calling.

The secret lovers called each other between 12 and 31 times a day during September 1998, Leonard alleged.

Starting at just after midnight on Sept. 17, prosecutor Robert Daskas went over Leonard's findings for the jury, including calls made from Matteson's trailer to both Tabish and Murphy, a call from Binion's real estate agent Barbara Brown and Sandy Murphy's eventual call to 911, pleading for an ambulance after "discovering" Binion laying lifeless on the floor.

Daskas put the most emphasis on the period between 8:56 and 9:58 a.m., when Tabish made no phone calls and did not answer several incoming calls to his cell phone.

Jurors also heard how Murphy called Tabish's cell phone minutes before she dialed 911.

Defense attorneys for Murphy and Tabish made numerous objections to the introduction of the phone records into evidence, arguing that Leonard could only prove that calls were made, but could not personally verify who actually was talking.

On cross-examination by Michael Cristalli, Leonard acknowledged the shortcomings of his investigation.

"I made an analysis through my research that she was using [a certain cell-phone]," Leonard said. "Do I personally know that she was using it? I don't."

Leonard also admitted to Tabish's attorney Shari Greenberger that charts of phone calls used by the prosecutors actually omitted hundreds of calls for everyday matters to and from Tabish in the five days before Binion's death.

"It appears [Tabish] had been conducting business like he had been for all five of those days?" Greenberger asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Leonard said.

In their own defense

After prosecutors rested their case and outside the presence of the jury, Judge Joseph Bonaventure instructed an attentive Tabish and Murphy of their right not testify.

Tony Serra, wearing a shirt with cuffs safety-pinned together under a rumpled suit, was quick to answer Bonaventure's question whether Tabish will let jurors know his side of the story.

"I told the jury from day one that he's going to take the stand," Serra said.

Tabish did not testify on his own behalf on the first trial and most likely will face questioning from prosecutors about his felony conviction for the assault and extortion of former business associate Leo Casey.

Judge Bonaventure barred prosecutors from questioning Casey about the incident when he testified in this trial.

Cristalli was not as quick to volunteer his client's testimony, saying that Murphy is still weighing the benefits of taking the stand and would decide later.

Attorneys for Tabish and Murphy told Bonaventure that they plan to mount a joint defense by alternating witnesses.

The first witness on Friday morning is scheduled to be the current Mayor of Las Vegas and one-time Murphy defense attorney Oscar Goodman. A colorful Vegas character known for defending mobsters in real life and a brief cameo appearance in the Martin Scorsese movie "Casino" as a mob lawyer, Goodman is expected to testify only about how Murphy brought him several thousands of dollars in silver as collateral for payment of his services.

The co-defendants face 20 years to life if convicted.

Aside from losing her freedom, Murphy has a lot of money riding on the jurors' decision. After Thursday's proceedings one of her lawyers acknowledged that pending legal action from the Binion family, Murphy stands to inherit the proceeds from the sale of Ted Binion's house along with $300,000, plus interest, if found not guilty on all charges — about $1.3 million.

Outside of the courtroom Serra said he was confident that in light of the prosecution's case, Murphy and Tabish will be found innocent on all charges.

"I think we are way above water. It's a circumstantial case and almost every aspect of it has two interpretations," Serra said. "When that occurs, the jury has to choose the interpretation that points towards innocence."

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