LAS VEGAS — Citing a lack of medical evidence, a Las Vegas jury acquitted former lovers Sandra Murphy and Richard Tabish of all murder charges Tuesday in the death of casino mogul Ted Binion.

Murphy, 32, and Tabish, 39, were cleared of murder, robbery, and conspiracy to commit murder and robbery, but found guilty of three other counts — conspiracy to commit burglary, burglary and grand larceny — for their 1998 plot to steal Binion's millions in silver and cash.

Murphy, dressed in jeans and a gray T-shirt, wept and hugged her attorneys when the verdict was read.

After jurors filed from the courtroom following the verdict, Tabish smiled and said, "This murder thing is behind me." He hugged his mother and father.

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Murphy, who is free on $250,000 bond, continued to weep and appeared in shock as she left the courtroom. Earlier she had been seen holding her head over a garbage can near the defense table.

The pair face up to 16 years in prison when sentenced Jan. 28. Tabish, who is currently incarcerated, has about nine months left to serve on sentences stemming from three previous felony convictions.

The seven-man, five-woman panel deliberated for about 19 hours before the verdict was read Tuesday at 12:05 p.m. to a packed courtroom.

Rick Tabish was convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary, burglary, and grand larceny.

Lonnie "Ted" Binion, heir to Binion's Horseshoe Casino, was 55 years old when paramedics found his lifeless body in the den of the Las Vegas home he shared with Murphy for three and a half years.

Investigators initially thought Binion, a heroin addict, had died from an overdose of heroin and Xanax, drugs he had purchased the day before.

After an intense investigation by the Binion family, Murphy and Tabish were arrested nine months later and charged with murder.

Witnesses, including Binion's daughter, testified that Binion's rare coin collection and more than $20,000 in cash were missing from the home. Former sheriff's deputies testified that they caught Tabish at 2 a.m. the next morning, digging up the last of Binion's $7 million in silver coins and bars from an underground vault in the desert.

The co-defendants admit they were having an affair, but denied any involvement in Binion's death, which they deemed an accidental overdose.

Witnesses lacked credibility

Ted Binion's family — his brother Jack, his sister Becky Behnen, and his sister-in-law Phyllis Binion, who has been a major presence in the courtroom — were stonefaced as the decision was read.

The Binion family declined to comment afterward, but Phyllis wept as she told Courttv.com, "Oh, it's OK. It's life."

Tabish told reporters that he was "speechless."

"But I'm glad I wasn't speechless at trial," he joked. Tabish testified in his own defense that Binion asked him to dig up the silver in the desert and secure it for his daughter if anything ever happened to him.

Ted Binion was found dead in his Las Vegas home in 1998.

Jurors who spoke to reporters after the verdict said they just didn't buy it.

"It didn't matter whether Ted told him or not. He shouldn't have been there," said juror #9, a middle-aged man who took copious notes throughout the trial.

In fact, jurors said they found several witnesses' testimony suspect — among them, Kurt Gratzer, an admitted drug addict who said that he and Tabish discussed different ways to kill Binion, and Deanna Perry, a manicurist who said that Murphy predicted Binion's overdose a week before his death and claimed that her "new, rich boyfriend" would get his silver.

The jury forewoman, who did not want to give her name, said that the prosecution's theory that Binion was suffocated by the defendants was not adequately supported by medical testimony.

Jurors said they believed Binion suffered an accidental overdose based on testimony about his "lifestyle" — a lifelong struggle with heroin addiction — and the numerous defense experts who testified that the heroin and Xanax were the cause of his demise.

On Monday, they listened to a reading of testimony from a fingerprint expert who said there were no prints or even ridge details on the Xanax bottle, Bic lighters and cigarette pack found near Binion after his death. Prosecutors claimed the pristine condition of the evidence indicated the defendants had wiped them clean to cover their tracks.

But jurors said they weren't convinced. One said she believed there could have been "smudges" on the bottle. The panel decided that police, who initially treated the death as an overdose, had botched the chain of custody, causing the lack of prints, she said.

While some jurors initially believed that Binion was murdered, according to the forewoman, there was enough reasonable doubt for the group to reach consensus on acquittal right at "the very end" of their deliberations.

"Amazingly, we were all very, very stressed out," said the forewoman. "It was a very, very stressful experience."

Prosecutors declined to comment on the verdict.

It was Murphy and Tabish's second trial on the charges. In 2000, a jury deliberated for eight days before convicting the pair of murder and grand larceny, among other counts. An appeals court overturned the convictions in 2003, paving the way for the retrial, which began Oct. 14.

According to a source close to Murphy, a provision in Binion's will provides for an estimated $1.2 million claim on his estate, which is payable to her pending a wrongful-death suit by the Binion family.