Rudin lawyer hopes to get evidence tossed

Kim Smith

Thursday, Dec. 14, 2000 | 10:04 a.m.

Margaret Rudin, a longtime suspect in the death of her millionaire husband, will be in court Friday to ask a judge to toss out much of the evidence prosecutors hope to use against her.

Rudin's attorney, Michael Amador, has filed nearly two dozen motions in preparation for his client's Jan. 29 trial. District Judge Joseph Bonaventure hopes to take care of most of them Friday.

Rudin, 56, and Amador allege the police failed to thoroughly investigate Ronald Rudin's death six years ago, instead relying, in part, upon the statements of his business associates, who they claim engaged in illegal activities with Ronald Rudin, a real estate agent.

"It is the defendant's opinion that they cheated the IRS, involved themselves in fraudulent land sales transactions, falsified notary signatures in escrow and on deeds and, as a result of their long criminal association, made a lot of money that ended up in the Ronald Rudin trust," Amador alleges.

Amador continued, "Defense counsel alone is aware of something very important that happened in 1994 that set into motion a chain of events in several areas of Ronald Rudin's life, each of which was serious enough to have resulted in the murder of Ronald Rudin."

The police and district attorney's office also acted inappropriately when presenting the case to the grand jury that indicted Rudin in April 1997, Amador alleges.

"A review of the transcript from the grand jury reveals a case against Margaret Rudin that is truly without any foundation in solid fact or direct evidence," Amador wrote. "It is a house of cards. The grand jury testimony is fraught with the hearsay meanderings of ex-wives, mistresses, catty sisters, jealous co-workers and ex-felons.

"By the end of its reading this writer expected the state's final witness to have come from the psychic hotline."

Police suspect Rudin and an unknown accomplice shot Ronald Rudin, 64, to death in December 1994, decapitated him, placed him in a trunk and set the trunk on fire near Nelson's Landing in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Ronald Rudin's skull -- which had four or five bullet holes in it -- and his other remains were found Jan. 21, 1995, by fishermen.

Margaret Rudin was indicted in April 1997 after an investigation revealed a series of seemingly suspicious activities.

Prosecutors claim that Rudin had a laborer dismantle her husband's bed and get rid of his bedroom carpeting before investigators even began to suspect he was dead. The laborer also reported cleaning stains in the bedroom and hallway of the home.

Acting on the laborer's statements, a forensic expert found evidence of Ronald Rudin's blood having been splattered all over the bedroom.

Much of the evidence Rudin wants to be suppressed comes in the form of statements, however.

According to court documents, Rudin would rather jurors not hear the statements of Ron Danner, an employee of Ronald Rudin.

Danner reportedly told police that Ronald Rudin told him he planned to cut Margaret Rudin out of his will about a week before his disappearance. In addition, Ronald Rudin supposedly told Danner about a fierce argument he had with his wife on the day before he disappeared.

The court documents state that Ronald Rudin urged Danner to ask for an autopsy for him in the event that he died, because he suspected his wife had hired a hitman to kill him. Ronald Rudin suggested they look for poison.

Court records also show that Rudin aroused the suspicions of police the instant she found out her husband's remains had been found.

Although Rudin didn't act grief-stricken, she asked for her nephew Scott Stavrou to join her, court records show. After spending a few minutes alone with him, Stavrou drew a police officer aside and asked if Ronald Rudin's remains were skeletal because of the fire or nature taking its course.

Rudin hadn't been told about a fire, court records show. A similar event allegedly occurred the next day. Stavrou asked if Ronald Rudin's body showed signs of decapitation -- before the officer even knew he had been decapitated.

Rudin and Amador also don't want jurors to know that Margaret Rudin reportedly tried to shoot Ronald Rudin in his bedroom in April 1991.

In response to that defense motion, prosecutors Chris Owens and Gary Guymon respond, "The fact that she previously fired a handgun at her husband in the exact domestic geography and circumstances as the later, fatal event is strong evidence of her intent, capability and continuing plan and scheme in the present matter."

Although Rudin was indicted in April 1997, she wasn't arrested until November 1999, when she was caught in Massachusetts after having been featured several times on the syndicated TV show "America's Most Wanted."