Judge bars evidence of self-inflicted wound

Jury in trial of former Greensburg dentist will not hear ‘crocodile incident’

A jury won’t hear evidence that ex-Greensburg dentist Lawrence Rudolph, accused of killing his wife on an African safari in 2016 to collect $4.8 million in life insurance, also shot off part of his own thumb on another safari a decade earlier to collect $3.5 million in disability insurance.

A federal judge in Denver, William Martinez, ruled Monday against the U.S. attorney’s office, which wanted to introduce the evidence to show that Mr. Rudolph knew he could get away with killing his wife for insurance in remote Zambia because they said he’d pulled an insurance scam there before.

Mr. Rudolph had objected to the introduction of the earlier incident and also disputed the government’s version of events, saying he was able to collect on the insurance claim because a crocodile bit off the tip of his thumb.

“In the end, the risk of prejudice to Rudolph — that the jury will assume that because he may have inflicted bodily harm on himself in order to collect insurance money at Chinyembe, he likely also murdered his wife at that same location a decade later — is simply too great for the Court to accept,” the judge ruled.

He said even if he gave the jury detailed instructions, the “crocodile incident” risks prejudicing Mr. Rudolph and would also waste time and possibly confuse jurors about the murder case.

Mr. Rudolph, a big-game hunter now living in Phoenix, is set to go on trial next month along with his mistress, Lori Milliron, his former office manager back in Greensburg.

Prosecutors and the FBI say Mr. Rudolph shot his wife, Bianca, during a 2016 safari and staged it as an accident to collect insurance money and then take up with Ms. Milliron, who moved into his mansion a few weeks after the shooting. She is charged with lying to a grand jury about their long-term affair and the shooting.

The thumb incident and Bianca’s death both occurred in remote Chinyembe.

Prosecutors wanted to show the thumb episode is indicative of Mr. Rudolph’s intent in killing Bianca because they said he knew from experience that the Zambian authorities would do a lousy job of investigating, as would his insurers.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Mr. Rudolph traveled to Kafue National Park to hunt water buffalo in 2006. Prosecutors said he shot off the tip of his thumb but said a crocodile had snatched him near a river and chomped on him. With such a croc-induced injury, he convinced his insurance company to pay him because he said he couldn’t practice dentistry anymore.

The government wanted to present nine witnesses to bolster its contention that Mr. Rudolph shot himself and then ripped off the insurance company.

Mr. Rudolph and his lawyer said their own witnesses would counter that story, saying a croc did indeed cause the thumb injury.

The defense said prolonged sparring over the croc story would create an “unnecessary and improper mini-trial,” and the judge agreed. He said it’s a “close call” whether to bar the evidence, but he said he’ll side with the defense.

Mr. Rudolph, 67, is charged with murder in a foreign place.

The FBI said he shot Bianca, also an experienced big- game hunter, with a shotgun during a leopard hunt in Kafue National Park and then claimed she shot herself accidentally while packing up her gun.

Ms. Milliron is accused of lying to protect him.