LAS VEGAS — A skin expert told jurors Tuesday that it was "impossible" for the red lesions found on Ted Binion's chest to be button marks, disputing the state's theory that Sandra Murphy and Rick Tabish suffocated him to death.

Dermatopathologist Bruce Ragsdale went so far as to say the marks, which he described as oozing with pus, could have been from a herpes simplex infection.

Renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden previously testified that the two small marks seen in autopsy photos along with the redness around Binion's mouth were evidence that he died from a cruel technique called "burking," in which one person blocked his airway while another sat on his chest.

"Mr. Baden made an opinion that those two marks are made by buttons," defense attorney Michael Cristalli recounted as Ragsdale looked at photos of the lesions.

Story continues

advertisement

"The first time I heard that, I thought it was crazy. And then when I heard who the source was I reduced that to outrageous," Ragsdale said, explaining that he did not believe the spots could be created from pressure.

Prosecutors say that Binion's live-in girlfriend Murphy and her secret lover Tabish killed the millionaire on the morning of Sept. 17, 1998, and tried to make the longtime heroin addict's death look like a suicide by leaving an empty bottle of Xanax near his side and drug paraphernalia in the bathroom.

Prosecutors believe they either forced the drugs down his throat or slipped them in a drink before suffocating him to death.

Binion's cause of death was initially deemed an overdose, but after an intense investigation by the Binion family, his manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Because no foul play was immediately suspected, no biopsies were conducted on the lesions, and the button-down shirt Binion was wearing at the time of his death did not undergo forensic analysis.

Ragsdale, the final witness for the defense, brought in a textbook photo depicting a herpes outbreak on a patient's mouth, and as he described the condition, Cristalli projected the picture side-by-side with a photo of the reddish lesion on Binion's chest. The marks appeared similar.

"It's likely a herpes infection," Ragsdale said. "But I would entertain two other categories of disease."

Ragsdale said that basal cell carcinoma, or skin cancer, often appears "crusty," like the lesions on Binion's chest. Another plausible, yet less likely answer, he said, was that they were burns that became infected.

Baden testified that the redness around Binion's mouth could have been from a struggle due to someone holding a pillow or towel over his face.

"I wouldn't go along with that," Ragsdale said, adding that it was simply dermatitis or a rash from shaving too close.

Call me Ishma

Tabish previously testified in his own defense that he hired a former employee, Jason Frazer, to help him run his trucking and hauling business after he was incarcerated and charged with murder.

Prosecutors contend that one of Frazer's duties, however, was to help Tabish secure fake alibis.

Tabish said he never paid for testimony. He also denied sending Frazer to meet a mysterious man, known only as "Ishma," who was allegedly tasked with discrediting the Binion family's private investigator, Tom Dillard.

Tabish denied knowing anyone named Ishma.

On Tuesday morning, prosecutors called Ramon Owens, aka "Ishma," to the stand.

Owens testified that he met Tabish at the Clark County detention center where they were both imprisoned in 1999.

"You and Mr. Tabish shared a bunk at one time?" Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas asked.

"Yeah, two different beds," Owens said, causing the courthouse to erupt into laughter over his careful clarification.

Owens said Tabish arranged for his bail and then asked him to meet with Frazer to discuss money for witnesses he could procure to damage Dillard's credibility.

"He said when he beat the case, when he got out, and he had a movie deal, a book deal and whatever going, he'd help me out," Owens told jurors.

When he was preparing to meet Frazer, Owens said, he told Tabish "that I would use the name Ishmael." Frazer returned to the stand briefly Tuesday to confirm that Tabish once sent him to meet with someone of dark complexion who went by "Ishma."

Tabish, who was seated among his four attorneys at the defense table, was smiling incredulously throughout Owens' testimony. He maintains that Owens took advantage of him when he was simply looking for evidence of misconduct on Dillard's part.

During cross-examination by defense attorney Tony Serra, Owens admitted that he had two previous felony drug charges, but denied setting Tabish up.

'They should not be there'

Former Nye County Sheriff Wade Lieseke, the final witness in the month-long trial, was called to the stand to rebut Tabish's testimony that he had received permission to dig up Binion's silver treasure.

The day after Binion's death, law enforcement officers found Tabish and two assistants on Binion's Pahrump ranch property at 2 a.m., loading up the last of $8 million in silver coins and bars from an underground vault into a waiting hauler.

Tabish maintains that he was securing the riches for Binion's daughter, Bonnie.

Lieseke testified that he had three separate phone calls with Tabish earlier that day, that he did not give him permission to dig up the silver during those calls, and that he was annoyed by Tabish's call.

The former sheriff, who called Binion a friend and political supporter, said that Tabish referred to himself on the phone as a "business partner" of Binion's, and stated he wanted to come out to Nye County and pick up some "property that they owned jointly."

At the end of the conversation, according to Lieseke, Tabish said the sheriff was in Binion's will.

"He said, 'You're in it for $250,000.' At that point I scoffed," Lieseke said. "I didn't believe it for a minute. I was friends with Ted but I wasn't that good friends."

Closing arguments are expected to begin Thursday morning and last through Friday.

Murphy and Tabish face 20 years to life if convicted of Ted Binion's murder.

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