Location

Defendants

Date of Alleged Crime

Rick Tabish, a trucking contractor, and Sandy Murphy, a one-time topless dancer, were convicted in 2000 of murdering Murphy's boyfriend, Ted Binion.  Binion, 55, was formerly an executive of the Horseshoe Casino and had an estate worth $50 million.  Tabish and Murphy allegedly killed Binion by forcing him to swallow a mixture of black tar heroin and the sedative Xanax.  Murphy stood to inherit about $1.5 million from Binion's estate.  Tom Dillard, an investigator hired by the Binion family, gathered evidence against the pair and got police to file charges.  Defense argued at trial that Binion was a well-known heroin addict and had simply overdosed.

Binion reportedly became depressed in March 1998 after the Nevada Casino Gaming Control board permanently barred him from his family's casino because of his reported drug use and his association with a known mobster.  The day before Binion's death, he was prescribed a month's supply of Xanax, which is useful for combating the withdraw symptoms of heroin.  However, it seemed unlikely that he planned to use the Xanax for that purpose, for later that day, he bought 12 balloons of black tar heroin from a drug dealer.  Tabish and Murphy's convictions were overturned in 2003 and the two were acquitted on retrial in 2004.  (L.A. Times) (American Justice)  [12/06]

www.victimsofthestate.org

Individual Case Summaries

Main Menu