LAS VEGAS — The jury weighing evidence against Margaret Rudin is split 11 to 1 in favor of convicting the so-called Black Widow, the judge in the case revealed Monday after the lone holdout was accused of misconduct.

The female juror admitted in a closed door hearing that she had phoned an alternate juror over the weekend to vent her frustrations about the case, a violation of the judge's orders.

But Judge Joseph Bonaventure permitted the woman to remain on the jury after she assured him that she could still be fair in deciding the fate of Rudin, who faces life in prison for the murder of her millionaire fifth husband.

"This court is satisfied that this incident will not contaminate either the verdict or the jury deliberations," Bonaventure told the court during an unusual proceeding held as the seven women and five men spent a third day poring over evidence in an adjoining jury room.

Bonaventure denied both a prosecution request that the renegade juror be struck from the panel and a defense motion for a mistrial, but the judge said he was "extremely disappointed" with the middle-aged woman identified as juror #11.

"Clearly, after daily, repeated, almost painful admonitions to not speak to anyone involving this case juror #11 completely disobeyed this Court's admonition and took it upon herself to call someone outside the province of the jury to discuss the facts about this case," said Bonaventure.

Members of the defense team, fractured during the nine-week trial by personal and professional differences, had typically mixed reactions to the news that only a single juror stood between their client and a conviction. Lawyer Tom Pitaro muttered that it was impossible to say what was going on in the jury room, while Michael Amador seemed almost celebratory.

"I appreciate and I honor certain things, especially a strong-willed woman with an opinion willing to stick her ground," said Amador, who compared the juror's battles with Rudin's own quest to prove her innocence. "I count on her to dig in her heels, not just to cause a mistrial. No. But to convince the 11 other jurors to acquit."

Amador, meanwhile, was trying to persuade anyone who would listen that he was wrongly accused of incompetence by the judge. He and Bonaventure have tussled over the attorney's ill-preparation since the beginning of the case, and their troubles culminated with the judge accusing Amador of lying about the length and subject of his closing and of lacking personal integrity. The judge remains so angry, that even Monday morning, he ordered Amador not to address him directly.

According to the transcript of that hearing Bonaventure told Pitaro, "I don't trust him. If he wants to say something he's to go to you. He whispers in your ear, Mr. Pitaro, and you tell me what he wants to say, I don't want him addressing this court."

By the afternoon, Amador was circulating an affidavit that read more like a press release. In it, he said he had hired his own attorney and demanded that the judge "refrain from any further insulting, undignified, and discourteous remarks." He handed out a letter Rudin wrote during a hearing on a legal pad, saying she wholeheartedly agreed her lawyer had been mistreated by Bonaventure.

"These opinions often expressed in anger with loud, explosive tones in his voice could not help but taint the jurors," said Rudin, who called for a mistrial.

The jurors cooled their heels Monday morning while Bonaventure decided how to handle the misconduct charges, but they resumed their work in the afternoon and left at 6 p.m. without reaching a verdict. Since deliberations began Thursday afternoon, the foreman has sent several notes to the judge, but never mentioned a jury deadlock.

But according to an alternate who spoke with juror #11 Saturday and was questioned by the judge Monday, the panel is divided. According to the transcript, the alternate, a middle-aged woman third in line to take a seat on the jury, said juror #11 called her at home and "said I feel like I need to talk to someone."

"She said I'm having trouble dealing with it. She said it started out 9-4 [sic], she said and I'm the only one left," the alternate told Bonaventure in a closed door meeting. She said juror #11 described how the panel had made lists of dozens of pieces of evidence and hung them around the room. "She said no matter what they put up in information, she said, I can't — I don't believe the State has proven its case."

The alternate said she regretted not simply hanging up on the juror. She claimed she refused to give the woman her opinion on Rudin's guilt and simply told her to act as she needed to feel good about herself.

On Sunday, the alternate said she had misgivings about the conversation and contacted the bailiff and later spoke directly with Bonaventure about the call.

The judge questioned juror #11 separately during the hearing. The woman admitted phoning the alternate, but gave a much more limited version of what was discussed.

"She asked me how it was, I said grueling, it was very grueling. I was having a real hard time with this, but as far as, I don't recall as to whether their were any specifics that were discussed except I was anguishing about this," the juror told Bonaventure.

Monday's hearing was not the first time juror #11 has drawn attention to herself during the nine-week trial. Courtroom observers spotted the attractive brunette smiling coyly at prosecutor Gary Guymon throughout the testimony. And on the day of closing arguments, Bonaventure separated her from the other jurors at the request of the bailiffs and dressed her down for complaining about the smoking policy in the court and at the Golden Nugget Hotel, where the jurors dine.

Both the alternate and jury #11 said they believed the judge, the bailiff and even the manager of the Golden Nugget were out of line that day and the pair spoke on the phone Wednesday about writing a formal letter demanding an apology. The alternate said that when juror #11 called her Saturday, she expected to discuss the letter, not the deliberations.

The lawyers also discussed how to respond to several letters sent by the jury foreman concerning legal instructions. In the notes, the foreman asks whether the jury can convict if they are unsure if the crime occurred exactly as the prosecution claimed.

"The state claimed that Ron Rudin died in his bed. If we believe that he was killed elsewhere, and that the state was off-base with their theory, must we find Margaret Rudin not guilty," one note submitted Monday asks.

The defense claimed the confusion was the result of the prosecution's vague case against Rudin, but prosecutor Chris Owens, who had urged Bonaventure to throw juror #11 off the panel, said he suspected she was behind the letters.

"She's the one who is asking these questions. That's where this is coming from," he said.

Bonaventure said he would not give the jurors any further advice and ask them to rely on the written instructions they already had in the jury room.