Even as Tina Fiscus watched her mom's accused murderer represent himself in court the past month, she remained patient. It has been 4 1/2 years since Mo Hicks was suspected of killing Judy Rush, and 10 months since her body was discovered in a north metro park.

When Anoka County Judge James Cunningham found Hicks not guilty Friday morning on the first of two murder counts, Fiscus waited another painstaking minute. The judge then pronounced Hicks guilty of second-degree unintentional murder. Fiscus and Hicks showed no emotion.

The suspenseful verdict brought an end to the rare scenario of a murder suspect defending himself and requesting that the trial be heard by a judge rather than a jury. Fiscus, thoughtful and composed after the verdict, said she understood why Hicks chose this strategy.

"He was doing what he had to do. He was on trial for his life," she said. "I guess he did a decent job of putting doubt in the judge's mind."

The unintentional murder charge carries a shorter presumptive sentence than the intentional count of which Hicks was acquitted. Prosecutor Wade Kish said his office can still ask for the maximum 40-year sentence allowed under the intentional murder charge because of aggravating circumstances involving Rush's death.

Hicks, 36, was accused of killing Rush, his girlfriend, in August 2007 and dumping her body in a park in Brooklyn Park. Skeletal remains were found in the park last spring by a group of students, and DNA testing determined they were those of the 56-year-old Rush.

Hicks was only the second defendant accused of murder to represent himself in the metro area in the past decade, and the first ever in Anoka County. Wolanda Shelton, a court-appointed attorney, advised him during the trial.

Kish and co-counsel Robert Goodell declined to say much after the verdict because of the pending sentencing hearing in March. Goodell said that Hicks did a commendable job of representing himself.

When the trial ended last week, Cunningham praised Hicks' professionalism.

Finding of facts

On Friday, after the verdict was delivered, the court made public a 17-page order on the judge's finding of facts. He highlighted more than 100 witnesses and pieces of evidence from the case, including a reference to Rush in the past tense by Hicks during an interview with detectives after her disappearance. Among other points, Cunningham said the testimony of two jailhouse informants who talked to Hicks about the killing were "credible, reliable and believable."

Hicks is alleged to have killed Rush by smashing her skull with a hammer after she refused to have sex with him. Bloody footprints from Hicks' tennis shoes were left in the hall of Rush's Columbia Heights apartment. There were no witnesses and no hammer was recovered, but Kish said the amount of circumstantial evidence against Hicks was overwhelming.

Hicks emerged as the main suspect shortly after Rush's relatives notified police about her disappearance in the summer of 2007. At one point, detectives spent 10 days in sweltering heat at a landfill where they believed Hicks had dumped her body.

During the trial, Hicks stressed that police didn't submit several pieces of blood-stained evidence to a crime lab for DNA testing. He also said he cooperated with detectives throughout their investigation by willingly giving statements and supplying evidence, such as his tennis shoes. But cooperation doesn't equal truthfulness, said Det. Mike Lapham of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office and lead investigator on the case.

He described Hicks as a loner with street smarts who came off as articulate and intelligent. Hicks bragged to jail inmates that he would get away with killing Rush because police lacked physical evidence, said Lapham.

Fiscus met Hicks only once, the day before her mother disappeared. She knew they were co-workers, but little else.

"My mom was a very friendly, outgoing person," she said. "Unfortunately, she befriended the wrong person."

Prosecutors plan to argue that the trauma Rush's death caused her family is a key reason Hicks should received a sentence longer than the recommended guidelines of about 15 to 21 years. Fiscus' two children were very young at the time of their grandmother's killing. The second of two funerals for Rush was held in November when authorities turned over her remains to the family.

"This has had a huge impact on our lives," said Fiscus. "My oldest daughter, now 11, asks me all the time if there is a man coming to get her."

David Chanen • 612-673-4465