LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — I sat down with the valley's former top prosecutor, Clark County District Attorney David Roger, for a reaction and more perspective on the dramatic turn of events in this decades-long, high-profile case.
WATCH: Murder charges dismissed against the 'Black Widow of Las Vegas' Margaret Rudin
David Roger: "A certificate of innocence is something that a judge will decide in a separate civil lawsuit, and so it's a Nevada statute that allows a person who believes he or she is wrongfully convicted to go into court and prove actual innocence. With respect to her, she will have to prove actual innocence. She has to prove two things. One is that the charges were dismissed and that's what happened today [Monday].
"And two, that she is actually innocent and that's going to be the bigger hurdle for her to meet. But if she's successful, the damages are $2.2 million...Typically, people who follow this path also file civil rights lawsuits in federal court, and that takes some time. But right now, she has pending the wrongful conviction lawsuit against the state of Nevada."
Tricia Kean: "And proving she's innocent, what would they bring up in court?
David Roger: "She'll point to all the things that she pointed to at her trial, that there is no physical evidence connecting her to the murder that Ron Rudin was found in a desert area and she was too frail to be able to move the body."
Tricia Kean: "What happens now in the murder of her husband? Is it now an open case again?"
David Roger: "From the law enforcement point of view, that case was solved some 20-odd years ago when they arrested Margaret Rudin. They believe they had the right person so they are not going to reopen this case to chase a ghost."
Tricia Kean: "These high profile cases like the Menendez brothers. Is there any similarity in a case like that to this...and what they're going through in California?"
David Roger: "Both scenarios are very similar in as much as the Menendez brothers are trying to be released from custody and have their charges dismissed. And Margaret Rudin was successful today in getting her charges dismissed."
Tricia Kean: "This is a case we watched here closely in Nevada. We know she doesn't live here anymore. She moved on to Illinois, I believe. Anything else that sticks out to you about the Margaret Rudin case?
David Roger: "I'm sure that there are family members or relatives of Ron Rudin who have always felt kind of a gap in their lives as a result of his death, and I don't think that this makes it any easier some 20-odd years later."
If Margaret Rudin is successful in a federal civil rights case, that could potentially result in sizeable monetary damages.
