LAS VEGAS — Margaret Rudin's lawyers asked a judge for a new trial Friday, saying stunning ineptitude by her former lawyer turned the case into a circus and cost the so-called "Black Widow" an acquittal on charges of killing her husband.

"If this was a fight, someone would've stopped it," public defender Craig Creel said of the spring trial which he alternately termed a "calamity" and a "nightmare."

He argued that lack of preparation and bizarre behavior by trial lawyer Michael Amador inside the court as well as his "tawdry" dealings outside deprived her of a fair trial.

Amador, Creel charged, "knows more about dating strippers than he does about double jeopardy."

After hearing the argument, Judge Joseph Bonaventure said he would rule on the defense motion next Friday, the date set for Rudin's sentencing. If he denies the motion and goes ahead with the sentencing, Rudin faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. If he grants the motion, he will schedule a new trial in about six months.

The judge refused to hear any arguments from the defense about his own possible misconduct, saying Rudin's lawyers could take those allegations to an appeals court later if necessary. His decision, which Creel said "basically eviscerated the vast majority" of the defense's case for a new trial, meant the hearing focused on much-maligned Amador.

Rudin, a 57-year-old former socialite, was convicted in May of killing her fifth husband, Ron, to get at his $11 million fortune. Amador took the case pro bono and courted national media coverage, but when the 10-week trial opened, he seemed out of his depth. His paralegal, private detectives and co-counsel later said he had done none of the usual preparation for the complicated case — interviewing witnesses, issuing subpoenas — and was more concerned about arranging lucrative book and movie deals than defending his client.

His paralegal, Annie Jackson, alleged that he took a European vacation when he should have been prepping the case and stayed out late partying with a stripper throughout the trial.

Rudin began raising concerns about Amador's fitness immediately after his rambling opening statement, and after her conviction, she accused him of using cocaine and fired him.

Prosecutor Chris Owens reminded the judge Friday that it was Rudin who insisted a year ago on having Amador as her lawyer.

"Mr. Amador was not forced upon her. She chose him," Owens said.

The prosecutor said Rudin hadn't demonstrated that the defense case would have been significantly different with another lawyer and introduced affidavits from three jurors to bolster his case.

"What witnesses were not called that should've been called? What issues were not raised that should've been raised?" Owens asked. "The defendant is entitled under the law to a fair trial, not a perfect one."

Wearing a navy prison jump suit and her gray-blond hair in a ponytail, Rudin took close notes on a legal pad during the hearing. Also in attendance were former defense lawyers John Momot and Tom Pitaro, private investigator Tom Dillard, and Ron Rudin's ex-wife, Caralynne.

Amador was not in court Friday and did not hear his replacement exasperatedly call the trial "an embarrassment" and the lawyer a man who "obviously needs some help."

Amador's son, Michael Jr., who sat on the defense side of the court for the hearing, said his father was in California watching the Anaheim Angels play the New York Yankees. Amador is the subject of a grand jury investigation stemming from his behavior at trial, and his son said his father's lawyer had advised him against speaking publicly on the case.

The younger Amador acknowledged it was difficult to hear his father being disparaged by Rudin's new lawyers.

"They are talking about my dad," he said. "He's a good man."