Yet Another Bulletin Board
Sponsored by: The Fans!
Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register.
Nov 25th, 2024, 9:48pm

Upcoming Premiere Dates:
Survivor 23, Season premiere
Thursday, September 14 (8:00-9:30 PM, ET/PT) on CBS
Home Home Help Help Search Search Members Members Chat Chat Member Map Member Map Login Login Register Register

| Fantasy Survivor Game | Music Forums | The '80s Server Forums | Shop Online |


Metropolis Reality Forums « Ex-stripper, lover acquitted in casino heir's deat »

   Metropolis Reality Forums
   Off-Topic Forums
   In the News (Moderators: lakelady, yesteach, MediaScribe, Bumper, Isle_be_back)
   Ex-stripper, lover acquitted in casino heir's deat		 Previous topic | New Topic | Next topic »
Pages: 1  Reply Reply Add Poll Add Poll Notify of replies Notify of replies Send Topic Send Topic Print Print
   Author  Topic: Ex-stripper, lover acquitted in casino heir's deat  (Read 218 times)
Rhune
ForumsNet Administrator
USA 
*****





29289456 29289456   rhune_1971   Rhune1971
View Profile Email

Gender: female
 Posts: 292
Ex-stripper, lover acquitted in casino heir's deat
« on: Nov 23rd, 2004, 7:25pm »		 Quote Quote Modify Modify
Ex-stripper, lover acquitted in casino heir's death
But pair convicted of plotting to steal $8 million silver cache
Tuesday, November 23, 2004 Posted: 6:41 PM EST (2341 GMT)  
 
 
(CNN) -- A jury in Las Vegas, Nevada, acquitted a former stripper and her lover of murder Tuesday in the 1998 death of casino heir Ted Binion.
 
But the seven-man, five-woman jury convicted the pair of plotting to steal an $8 million cache of silver Binion kept buried in the desert.
 
It was the second trial for Sandy Murphy, 32, and Rick Tabish, 39, in Binion's death.
 
They were convicted of murder in 2000 and faced life in prison, but the Nevada Supreme Court overturned the verdicts in July 2003 and ordered a new trial.
 
Murphy sobbed when the retrial verdicts were read. Tabish smiled as his lawyers slapped him on the back.
 
Prosecutors accused Murphy and Tabish of forcing a lethal combination of heroin and the anti-depressant drug Xanax down Binion's throat and suffocating him.
 
Authorities said the pair then conspired to steal the silver cache that Binion had stored in a vault about 60 miles from Las Vegas.
 
The defense contended that Binion died of an accidental overdose after two decades of heroin addiction.
 
The jury, which deliberated fewer than four days, convicted Murphy and Tabish on lesser charges of conspiracy, grand larceny and burglary in connection with the treasure dig.
 
Clark County District Judge Joseph Bonaventure set sentencing on those charges for January 28. Each could face as many as 16 years in prison, The Associated Press reported.
 
Binion, 55, was the multimillionaire heir of Benny Binion, founder of the Binion's Horseshoe Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas, a high-stakes gambling venue that plays host to the annual World Series of Poker.
 
Binion was forced to relinquish his state gaming license over allegations of drug use and of ties to an organized crime figure, the AP reported.
 
Medical examiners initially ruled his September 17, 1998, death an overdose. But authorities began to suspect foul play two days later, when Tabish and two associates were found unearthing Binion's buried treasure of silver bricks and rare coins.
 
Prosecutors alleged that Murphy began an affair with Tabish -- a Montana entrepreneur who moved his fledgling sand and gravel business to Las Vegas and became Binion's friend and confidant -- in 1998.
 
During the four-week retrial, prosecutors described Murphy as a cold-blooded killer who met Binion while she was a topless dancer and devised a scheme to move into his mansion and coerce him to include her in his will.
 
In reversing the originial convictions, the state Supreme Court found Bonaventure improperly allowed testimony from Binion's former lawyer, who said Binion wanted Murphy written out of his will.
 
It also ruled that Murphy's trial should have been separated from that of Tabish, who faced additional extortion, kidnapping and conspiracy charges in a related business dispute.
 
Murphy was released on bail in December 2003. Tabish remains in prison on the other charges.
 
CNN's Stan Wilson contributed to this report.
 
IP Logged
Back to top
Pages: 1  Reply Reply Add Poll Add Poll Notify of replies Notify of replies Send Topic Send Topic Print Print

Previous topic | New Topic | Next topic »

Metropolis Reality Forums » Powered by YaBB 1 Gold - SP 1.3.1!
YaBB © 2000-2003. All Rights Reserved.