Tuesday, May 13, 2003 | 9:36 a.m.
William Rundle killed his wife with a baseball bat in a fit of rage, but it wasn't premeditated as prosecutors contend, a defense attorney told jurors on Monday.
Deputy Public Defender Curtis Brown said Rundle, 56, snapped during an argument with his wife, Shirley.
"This case is about a patient man who became a broken man," he said. "This is not about who did what, but what happened and why."
Brown described a 16-year-marriage plagued by the couple's overwhelming debt. The Rundles owed 20 credit card agencies more than $90,000 at the time of Shirley's August 2002 slaying, he said.
The couple had decided to escape their problems by moving to the Philippines, Brown said, but when Shirley, 63, decided to stay in Las Vegas to be near her daughter and granddaughter, Rundle became angry.
The tension exploded when Shirley, who had been drinking, hit Rundle in the arm with a champagne bottle, he said.
"At that moment he struck," the attorney said. "He hit her and he hit her again and again. He hit her until the rage he was feeling inside subsided."
But Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens said Rundle had planned the brutal slaying and did everything in his power to hide the evidence from police.
Rundle had also withdrawn $20,000 in cash from the couple's joint account the morning of the slaying, he said.
Owens said the man who was once named father of the year by a local organization and garnered media attention in 1987 when his 11-year-old son, Richie, was killed by a drunken driver, is not the real Rundle.
"The true face of Bill Rundle will become clear to you throughout the evidence of this trial," he told jurors. "The true face of Bill Rundle you will find is guilty of first-degree murder."
The opening statements kicked off Rundle's murder trial before District Judge Michael Cherry, in which Rundle faces a single count of first-degree murder and two counts of robbery. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Shirley Rundle's body was found wrapped in a blanket on the side of a remote highway about 30 miles northwest of Susanville, Calif. She had cuts on her head, bruises on her face and defensive wounds on her hands, police said.
Authorities say Rundle tried to escape police by renting a car and driving to Seattle, where he opened a bank account and purchased books on disguises. He was arrested six weeks later in a hotel room in Orlando, Fla.
Owens described Rundle as a greedy man who spent money recklessly and became angry when it began to disappear.
The couple spent more than $390,000 over a period of four years going on vacations and shopping, he said.
Prosecutors believe money also could be the motive behind the disappearance of Rundle's 82-year-old mother, Willa. Rundle had faced another murder charge, but a judge dropped the charge, citing lack of evidence. Her body has not been found.
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