DA considers death penalty in Rundle murder case

Erica Johnson

Friday, Nov. 29, 2002 | 11:11 a.m.

Prosecutors could decide as soon as next week whether they will pursue a death penalty for the Las Vegas man who allegedly beat his wife to death with a baseball bat. William Rundle, 57, pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and one count of robbery with a deadly weapon Wednesday before District Court Judge Kathy Hardcastle. Rundle's trial is scheduled to start Feb. 10. Bail has not been set.

Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz told Hardcastle there was a chance he'd file a notice of intent to seek the death penalty. This week or next, he said, he plans to meet with a special committee in the district attorney's office that decides whether the state will seek the death penalty in murder cases.

Chief Deputy Public Defender Curtis Brown said he wasn't surprised. Prosecutors consider the death penalty in almost every homicide case in which there is one or more aggravated circumstance, he said.

A grand jury last week began considering Rundle's case. Brown and Schwartz declined to comment on the grand jury proceedings.

Schwartz acknowledged that a search warrant was issued for Willa Rundle's home, but when asked whether the grand jury was also considering William Rundle's alleged involvement in the death of his 87-year old mother, Willa Rundle, who disappeared in 1996, Schwartz said only that prosecutors "have all we need with regards to the death of Shirley Rundle."

Shirley Rundle's body was found off a remote California highway in August, after her daughter reported the couple missing.

When William Rundle's mother, who was in ill health, went missing in 1996, he allegedly told people she was touring Europe, police said. Police said he cashed and spent her Social Security checks after her disapperance.

Two detectives and a crime scene analyst on Tuesday searched Rundle's home in the 4700 block of Poppywood Drive under a search warrent for the third time. Willa Rundle shared the home with her son for about a year, Metro Police Homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said.

Brown said William Rundle "has been very cooperative with the police. But we're still in the beginning stages. The defense needs time to negotiate some of the information in the case before we can properly advise our client."