‘Black Widow’ Margaret Rudin’s fight over wrongful conviction focuses on Nevada law

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — As Margaret Rudin, the woman dubbed “The Black Widow,” sues the State of Nevada for the more than 8,000 days she sat in prison for a murder charge a judge overturned — lawyers for the state say that judge never said she was innocent.

In 2001, a Las Vegas jury found Margaret Rudin, now 81, guilty of the death of her husband, Ron Rudin, a real estate investor. Ron Rudin’s charred body was found near Lake Mohave in 1995. In January 2020, a parole board granted Rudin’s release.

In 2022, a federal judge vacated her conviction, citing other potential suspects, inefficient counsel and lack of evidence.

“It’s not about the truth. It’s about who has the better attorney,” Margaret Rudin told the 8 News Now Investigators in 2022.

Prosecutors theorized Margaret Rudin shot her husband while he was asleep in bed. Police found human blood in the room, but an expert testified the amount was “less than a drop of blood from an eye dropper.” An expert for the defense also testified that “there was no evidence of a cleanup” and there would be much more evidence had Ron Rudin been killed in the bedroom.

The judge who overturned her conviction wrote there was no evidence linking Rudin to the murder weapon, Ron Rudin’s abandoned car, or the suspected crime scene. He also said Rudin’s defense attorney, Michael Amador, who has since died, did not do enough to defend her.

Margaret Rudin filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit against the state last May. In court Tuesday, lawyers argued over the language of state law about wrongful convictions and how it related to the federal judge’s ruling. Specifically, the law requires that “the judgment of conviction was reversed or vacated and the charging document was dismissed.”

Lawyers representing the state said the charging document was never dismissed, despite the fact prosecutors can no longer re-try Margaret Rudin on the murder charge.

“The most she goes is she says she did not participate in the murder but that does not encompass the full scope of the statutory requirement,” Michael Shaffer with the attorney general’s office said, adding at no time did the judge say Margaret Rudin was innocent.

Rudin’s attorney, Corrine Murphy, disagreed.

“The outcome would have been different if she had not had Amador represent her,” Murphy said, citing the federal judge.

Clark County District Court Judge Joanna Kishner ordered Murphy to amend her complaint to better fit within the state statute. That includes officially closing Margaret Rudin’s original murder case post-conviction and after the federal judge’s decision.

The lawsuit asks for compensation for the wrongful incarceration, assistance for housing and insurance and attorney’s fees.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.