Victim’s associate grilled on stand by defense lawyer

Kim Smith

Wednesday, March 7, 2001 | 11:37 a.m.

When Ronald Rudin asked Harold Boscutti to be a trustee, Boscutti was under the impression it would just involve signing some papers when he died.

He never dreamed he'd end up being involved in a murder mystery, let alone that he would be named by his good friend's wife as a suspect.

Boscutti took the stand this morning on the fourth day of Margaret Rudin's murder trial.

Prosecutors Chris Owens and Gary Guymon allege that Rudin and an accomplice shot Ronald Rudin, 64, on Dec. 18, 1994, as he slept. They contend he was then decapitated, placed into a steamer trunk, taken to Nelson's Landing and set ablaze.

The motive, they have said, was an $11 million estate and revenge for an extra-marital affair.

Rudin's defense attorney, Michael Amador, contends that Boscutti and other business associates helped the real estate developer in dirty land deals and are responsible for his death.

Boscutti told jurors that he went to work for Ronald Rudin as a real estate salesman in the 1960s, shortly after he met him. Because the two had many things in common, such as a love of boats and tours of duty during the Korean War, they became good friends.

Eventually, Boscutti said he opened his own realty office with his wife. However, he still conducted business with Rudin, telling him about houses that could be rehabilitated and sold and getting a commission in return.

On the day Rudin disappeared, Boscutti said, he spoke with him twice and Rudin seemed upbeat. Rudin said he had a meeting set up about his property in Lee Canyon, Boscutti said.

Rudin had been trying for years to make a profit on the property, which Boscutti said he thought of as his friend's "crown jewel."

"As a matter of fact, he was more excited than he'd been in a long time," Boscutti said.

A few days later, Boscutti said, he learned his friend had disappeared. He also learned that Rudin had left instructions that his death -- if a violent one -- should be investigated and the person responsible should be cut out of his will.

On Tuesday jurors learned from witnesses that Margaret Rudin had bugged her husband's office and had been keeping extensive notes on the telephone conversations she overheard for more than three years.

Jurors learned that Margaret Rudin, 56, discovered her husband's affair with IRS agent Sue Lyles with the help of the listening devices. They also were read several diary and telephone log entries in which it was clear she was not happy with her marriage -- her fifth -- either before or during the affair.

A clearly uncomfortable but composed Lyles took the stand Tuesday afternoon and told the jurors how her relationship with Ronald Rudin evolved from a professional one to an intimate one.

Lyles said she worked for Rudin as a weekend secretary between 1989 and 1991 but quit when she was promoted within the Internal Revenue Service. Although she occasionally saw him after that, it wasn't until the beginning of 1994 that the relationship began changing into a romance, she said.

By November 1994, Lyles said, Rudin had "expressed his feelings" for her and they had begun meeting secretly in various houses he was in the process of rehabilitating.

In December, Lyles said, two anonymous letters arrived at her home addressed to her son, Richard, and someone named Melissa Lyles. The vulgar letters described her affair with Rudin and advised the readers they ought to warn Lyle's husband that it was about to be exposed.

Just one day before Rudin disappeared, Lyles said, she met him and he ultimately decided his wife had written them. He spoke about confronting her, but no decision had been made by the time he said goodbye.

Five days later, Lyles said, she learned Rudin had disappeared.

Under an intense grilling from defense attorney Thomas Pitaro, Lyles acknowledged that although she gave a 20-page statement to police, she did not divulge the extent of their relationship, nor did she tell them that Rudin was angry and discussed confronting his wife about the letters.

Nor, Lyles said, did she ever tell police that Margaret Rudin twice called her daughter, Natalie, "Melissa." That revelation came a few years after Rudin's death.

Lyles said she was extremely upset at the time over Rudin's disappearance and hadn't given any thought to past conversations.

Pitaro repeatedly tried to crack Lyles' composure, talking about deception, cheating, elaborate schemes and getting caught.

"You were cheating with him, weren't you?" Pitaro asked repeatedly.

"It's not a word I would use," Lyles said.

Again, Pitaro asked if it was true she was cheating on her husband.

"I was seeing Ronald Rudin, yes," Lyles said.

The trial, which began Friday, is expected to last four to six weeks.