Police admit trick in Rundle probe

Erica D. Johnson

Wednesday, May 21, 2003 | 10:54 a.m.

When they were trying to get him to tell them where his mother's body was, police lied to William Rundle about whether he would face the death penalty.

Detectives who interrogated Rundle in the days following his arrest admitted during his trial that they told him prosecutors wouldn't seek his execution if he gave them the location of his mother's body.

Rundle maintained that he didn't know where the corpse was because his wife had killed his mother by upping her dosage of morphine and disposed of her body.

"(Police) said if I told them where my mother's body was, they would take something off the table," Rundle said in the second of two taped statements, which jurors heard Tuesday. "I say again, I have no idea where my mother's body was."

The detectives said the death penalty waiver was only a ruse to get information. If convicted, Rundle could still face the death penalty.

District Judge Michael Cherry ruled that jurors would not hear testimony about the details of the ruse, saying it could hinder future police negotiation tactics.

But Deputy Public Defender Curtis Brown had argued for jurors to be told about the ruse. He said Rundle's entire second statement was made in response to the detectives' offer.

"This goes to his state of mind," he said. "He tells them he doesn't know where the body is with something significant at stake."

Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens said the information was privileged.

"This opens up a door to us having to go into all the discussions (prosecutors) have had about the death penalty," he said.

Rundle faces a murder charge and two robbery charges in the death of his wife, Shirley Rundle, 63. Metro Homicide Detective Don Tremel testified Tuesday that he spoke with Rundle, 56, on a flight to Las Vegas from Orlando, Fla., where Rundle was arrested.

Tremel said Rundle, who had already given police a taped statement, said he wanted to talk to police again in order clarify his earlier statement.

In his initial statement, which jurors heard earlier this week, Rundle said he hit his wife once in the head with a baseball bat during an argument after she hit him with a champagne bottle.

But in the second statement, Rundle said he struck Shirley several times.

"I grabbed the bat and I hit her," he said. "And I hit her again and hit her again and hit her again. I just snapped."

He maintained the slaying wasn't premeditated.

"I wouldn't have married her if she wasn't a good person," he said. "I hadn't planned that fight. It just got out of control."

Rundle's murder trial was interrupted by a power outage at the courthouse on Tuesday, moments after jurors began listening to the statement.

District Court officials sent jurors in the Rundle and other trials home about 3:30 p.m. after court employees reported a mysterious smell in the building, Michael Sommermeyer, court information officer, said.

Sommermeyer said it appeared a basement circuit breaker had malfunctioned and fire officials were not called. Court proceedings were expected to resume this morning.