LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A judge dismissed a wrongful conviction lawsuit from Margaret Rudin, the woman dubbed “The Black Widow,” who served two decades in prison for a murder a federal judge later vacated.
In 2001, a Clark County jury convicted Rudin, 82, for the murder of her husband, Ron Rudin. In 2022, a federal judge vacated her conviction, citing her attorney’s failures and the possibility of other suspects. The state and the Clark County District Attorney’s Office declined to retry Rudin, leading to last December’s dismissal.
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In 2024, Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus dismissed Rudin’s criminal case, vacating her murder charge and conviction. The state did not admit her innocence but agreed she received poor legal representation at trial.
Rudin filed her wrongful conviction lawsuit against the state for the more than 8,000 days she sat in prison. The federal 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.
Clark County District Court Judge Joanna Kishner dismissed the case without prejudice on Tuesday, meaning Rudin and her attorneys can refile. In October, Rudin’s attorneys asked Kishner to pause the proceedings, writing she was “experiencing some issues, which make her active participation in discovery impracticable.”…