Former defendant in Vegas exec murder case paroled, required to live with parents

Former defendant in Vegas exec murder case paroled

LAS VEGAS — A man who was convicted then acquitted of killing a well-known Las Vegas casino executive has been released on parole.

Richard “Rick” Tabish, 45, was required to find a job and live with his parents in Missoula, Mont., where parole agents will supervise him until his prison term ends in March, the governor’s office said Monday.

“Thank goodness he was paroled to the state of Montana,” said District Attorney David Roger, who prosecuted Tabish during his murder trial. “Hopefully, we’ll never see Mr. Tabish in Las Vegas again.”

Tabish gained notoriety at his sensational Las Vegas murder trial in 2000, when he and co-defendant Sandra Murphy were convicted of murdering 55-year-old Ted Binion at his Las Vegas home in 1998 and stealing from his vault.

The trial wove together tales of greed, drugs, sex, money and casino lore.

Murphy, a former stripper, was Binion’s girlfriend. Tabish, Murphy’s secret lover, was a contractor who helped Binion build an underground vault in the desert town of Pahrump to store his $7 million silver fortune.

Prosecutors alleged that Murphy and Tabish forced Binion to ingest lethal levels of heroin and the antidepressant Xanax before suffocating him.

Tabish and Murphy were later acquitted of the murder charges in 2004 after the Nevada Supreme Court granted a new trial. The second jury convicted them of charges related to silver theft.

Murphy was released for time already served and now lives in Laguna Beach, Calif. Tabish remained in prison on an extortion conviction. He was granted parole on Jan. 13 and released after officials reviewed his plan for re-entering society.

Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, www.lvrj.com

(This version CORRECTS Corrects to say information released by governor’s office Monday sted Tuesday)