Police admit trick to get information from Rundle

Erica D. Johnson

Wednesday, May 21, 2003 | 9:31 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 admitted during his trial Tuesday 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 and disposed of her body.

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

Over an objection from defense attorneys, 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.

Rundle is being tried for the murder of his wife, Shirley Rundle, 63, and could face the death penalty.

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.

"I knew she was dead after I stopped hitting her. She still had the champagne bottle in her hand."

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 had told police that Shirley had killed his 82-year-old mother, Willa, by upping her dosage of morphine. He said Shirley had disposed of the body.

Rundle's murder trial was interrupted by a power outage at the courthouse on Tuesday, moments after jurors began listening to an additional statement he gave police following his arrest.

District Court officials sent jurors in the Rundle trial 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.

"There was an electrical smell evident on the fourth floor and it was permeating throughout the building," he 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.