LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A choose might dismiss all costs subsequent week in opposition to Margaret Rudin, the lady dubbed “The Black Widow,” who was wrongfully convicted of killing her husband within the Nineties.
In 2001, a Clark County jury discovered Rudin, now in her early 80s, responsible of the demise of her husband, Ron Rudin, an actual property investor. Ron Rudin’s charred physique was discovered close to Lake Mohave in 1995.
In January 2020, a parole board granted Rudin’s launch. Then lastly in 2022, a federal choose vacated her conviction, citing different potential suspects. The state and the Clark County District Legal professional’s Workplace declined to retry Rudin.
Clark County District Court docket Decide Mary Kay Holthus was scheduled to listen to arguments from each Rudin’s attorneys and the district lawyer’s workplace Monday the place she might formally dismiss the fees.
“Respectfully, the 25+ year saga of the state of Nevada prosecuting Margaret Rudin for a crime she did not commit must come to an end,” Rudin’s attorneys wrote in courtroom paperwork. “This court should finally dismiss those charges.”
“The case is ripe for dismissal,” prosecutors mentioned of their response, including a request the choose embody “specific factual findings as to why the court is now dismissing this case” ought to Holthus dismiss it. “It is factually correct that she is no longer convicted of a crime… there has never been an indication from anyone other than Rudin herself that she was wrongfully convicted and actually innocent of the crimes.”
In 2022, Rudin spoke completely with the 8 Information Now Investigators sooner or later after the Nevada Legal professional Normal’s Workplace ran out of time to attraction the federal choose’s resolution.
“What do you think of that moniker?” 8 Information Now Investigator David Charns requested Rudin in regards to the “Black Widow” title.
“I don’t think anybody would dare call me that to my face,” she mentioned.
Margaret Rudin served a 20-year to life sentence, earlier than her launch on parole in 2020. The choose’s order overturns Rudin’s conviction and releases her of any parole obligations. (AP/KLAS)
Rudin maintained her innocence all through her trial. Prosecutors theorized she shot her husband whereas he was asleep in mattress. Police discovered human blood within the room, however an skilled testified the quantity was “less than a drop of blood from an eye dropper.” An skilled for the protection additionally testified that “there was no evidence of a cleanup” and there could be way more proof had Ron Rudin been killed within the bed room.
The federal choose who overturned her conviction wrote there was no proof linking Rudin to the homicide weapon, Ron Rudin’s deserted automobile, or the suspected crime scene. He additionally mentioned Rudin’s protection lawyer, Michael Amador, who has since died, didn’t do sufficient to defend her.
Rudin has since filed a civil lawsuit in opposition to the state. A separate choose beforehand ordered her grievance to be amended. A date in that case was not scheduled as of Wednesday.
