Prosecutors to seek Rundle death penalty

Erica D. Johnson

Friday, Dec. 13, 2002 | 11:14 a.m.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the case of William Rundle, the local man accused of killing his wife with a baseball bat and dumping her body off a remote California highway.

The committee of prosecutors that determines whether or not to seek capital punishment reached its decision when they met Wednesday, said Assistant District Attorney J. Charles Thompson.

Killing for financial gain could be the one aggravating factor prosecutors need to warrant filing a notice of death, he said.

"It might be our theory that his wife was killed so that it wouldn't be revealed that he was taking his mother's money and her money as well," Thompson said. "We suspect that she might have found out some things about the mother."

Rundle, 57, pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and one count of robbery with a deadly weapon in the death of his wife, Shirley, 63.

His trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 10.

Police also suspect Rundle was involved in the disappearance of his 87-year-old mother, Willa Rundle, who has been missing since 1996.

But one of Rundle's attorneys, Deputy Public Defender Nancy Lemcke, said the facts of the case don't warrant the death penalty.

"The decision to seek death on a 57-year-old man with no history of violence is the kind of over reaching that shows a total lack of discretion on the part of the prosecutors," she said.

The review committee that decides whether to seek death is made up of six attorneys and includes District Attorney Stewart Bell.

Bell was not at Wednesday's meeting, as he is recovering from surgery, Thompson said.