This episode was loosely based on a real trial in Las Vegas where two former lovers were found not guilty of murdering a millionaire casino owner in 1998 but found them guilty of conspiring to steal more than $6 million of the dead man's silver from a vault in the desert. Sandy Murphy, 32, and Rick Tabish, 39, had been found guilty of murdering the casino baron, Ted Binion, a verdict that was overturned on a technicality. The Nevada Supreme Court ordered a new trial, which lasted six weeks. After deliberating for about 18 hours, the jury found the defendants not guilty of murder but convicted them of conspiring to commit 'burglary and/or larceny' as well as burglary and grand larceny. They were charged after sheriff's deputies discovered Mr. Tabish, less than two days after Mr. Binion's death on Sept. 17, 1998, digging the casino owner's fortune in silver bars and coins out of a vault sunk in the sand near the desert town of Pahrump. While he was in the desert, cellphone records showed, Mr. Tabish spoke at least three times with Ms. Murphy, a former stripper who lived with Mr. Binion until his death and with whom Mr. Tabish had been having an affair. The two were accused of murdering Mr. Binion, 55, in his Las Vegas home by forcing him to ingest a large quantity of drugs and then suffocating him.
Review of Las Vegas vs. Johnson
