Rudin given deadline to decide on attorneys

Kim Smith

Monday, July 10, 2000 | 9:37 a.m.

Margaret Rudin has one month to decide whether she wants to fire her public defenders and hire her own attorney.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure gave her what he called his "drop dead deadline" Friday after receiving a second note from Rudin in which she expressed her discontent with Deputy Public Defenders Jordan Savage and Will Ewing.

According to prosecutors, Rudin or an accomplice shot her husband in the head multiple times as he was sleeping on Dec. 18, 1994. They believe he was then decapitated, placed in a trunk and taken to Nelson's Landing on the Colorado River, where the trunk was set on fire.

Ron Rudin's remains were found by a fisherman about a month later and identified through dental records.

Rudin, 56, was indicted in April 1997 but remained a fugitive until her arrest in Massachusetts in November.

Rudin wrote the judge a letter in May complaining that Savage and Ewing don't have enough time for her case because of all of the other cases they are handling. She also said the attorneys hadn't been sharing the evidence provided to them by the state.

Bonaventure at that time said her attorneys are fully competent to handle her case. He also pointed out that while she has the right to free representation, she doesn't have the right to choose who defends her if the state is paying.

On Friday, after meeting in his chambers with the attorneys and Rudin, Bonaventure explained in open court that he had received another letter from Rudin regarding her displeasure with the attorneys.

Bonaventure asked Rudin to stand up and tell him for the record if the problems had been resolved during the earlier meeting. Rolling her eyes, Rudin stood up and said they had.

The second letter has been sealed and is not part of the public record.

The judge went on to say he doesn't believe the problems were bad enough for him to replace Rudin's attorneys at state expense. However, he said that if Rudin wants to pay for her own attorney she can have until Aug. 4 to hire one.

Bonaventure stressed he doesn't want the Oct. 30 trial date to change.