After a brief skirmish over which public defender’s office should defend Paul Runge, accused of killing several women, in his Will County trial on unrelated prison escape charges, the trial was postponed until Friday.
Runge’s Cook County public defender arrived in a Joliet courtroom Wednesday, when the trial was scheduled to begin, and attempted to take the case away from the Will County public defender’s office because of a dispute over Runge’s decision to plead guilty Tuesday to escape.
Runge still faces charges in Will County of aggravated battery, robbery and possession of contraband in a penal institution in connection with the October 2000 escape attempt.
Cook County Assistant Public Defender Allan Sincox, who is defending Runge in the murders of several Chicago area women, said he wanted to file a motion to withdraw the plea. By pleading guilty rather than being found guilty after a trial, Sincox said, Runge hurt his chances of avoiding the death penalty if he is convicted of the murders. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Will County Assistant Public Defender Carmen Goodman, who negotiated Runge’s plea on the escape charge, said she disagreed that a plea would have any different effect than being found guilty by the judge because Runge has admitted to the escape.
Judge Gerald Kinney turned Sincox down but told him he could file a motion to throw out the plea after the trial ended.
The trial will not begin until at least Friday because of a pretrial motion to suppress evidence expected to be filed by Runge’s co-defendant, former Sheridan Correctional Center guard Doris Harper. Harper is accused of aiding in the escape attempt because of romantic feelings for Runge.
Runge and prisoner Gregory Conley were being transported from Sheridan in LaSalle County to a court date in Cook County when they allegedly overpowered their guards as their van passed through Will County.
Harper allegedly drove the getaway car, but all three soon were stopped and arrested by Naperville police. Conley already has pleaded guilty.
The alleged escape attempt came months before Runge was charged in the serial murders of seven Chicago-area women, whom he allegedly killed from 1995 to 1997.
