Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Jurors glitch annoys judge
Possible tainting gets murder-for-hire retrial off to troubled start
It’s not going to be so easy to pick a jury for Dalia Dippolito’s retrial on a 2009 murder-for-hire charge, after somewhat of a rocky start Thursday.
Dippolito’s attorneys called for 100 prospective jurors to no longer be considered for the jury, because of a mistake that may have permitted people to hear things they shouldn’t have heard.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley quickly denied the request, but said he had to “figure out this mess.”
On Thursday, dozens of prospective jurors were sitting and standing in the hallway awaiting private interviews with the judge and attorneys about their previous knowledge of Dippolito’s case, in which the Boynton Beach woman is accused of trying to have her husband killed.
Then about six hours into jury selection, the problem surfaced.
A door to a room with TV news equipment had been left open for an unknown period of time, allowing the juror interviews inside the courtroom to be heard
“I’m not going to tolerate further tainting of jurors.” Glenn Kelley, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge
outside in the hallway. A man alerted courthouse deputies that while sitting in the hallway awaiting his turn, he could hear voices from the courtroom.
“I just recognized your voice and I knew I shouldn’t be hearing it,” the man told the judge, adding that he didn’t catch any specific comments and “I don’t think anybody (else) paid any attention.”
Prosecutors said they didn’t believe there was much of a concern. Still, Kelley said he would investigate how many of the potential jurors may have been exposed.
The judge was suddenly faced with a controversy in a case that already has a bad history when it comes to picking jurors.
In 2014, a state appeals court ruled Dippolito was cheated of a fair trial in 2011 because prospective jurors — including those later picked for the panel — had heard an allegation that she once tried to poison thenspouse Michael Dippolito.
After the issue surfaced Thursday, an annoyed Kelley also ordered the door to the room to remain closed at all times for the remainder of jury selection and questioned how it could have been open in the first place.
“I’m not going to tolerate further tainting of jurors,” he said.
From the first group of prospective jurors, more than 50 said they knew plenty about Dippolito, including the fact that she had been convicted before and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
“I believe she is guilty,” reported one potential juror who said he had seen numerous television news reports about the allegations that Dippolito, now 34, wanted a hit man to kill her husband of six months in the summer of 2009.
“I saw it on the news quite a bit,” another potential juror said, mentioning that she watched the TV show “Cops” that featured Dippolito, including footage of Boynton Beach police officers approaching her at a police-staged fake-murder scene. The woman said she knew Dippolito “had been previously tried and convicted.”
Still more prospective jurors said they had personal hardships, such as picking up small children after school or being self employed, that would restrict their ability to serve on a five-to-seven day trial. A few others do not speak English as their first language and were excused.
Because of the need for so many one-on-one interviews with the prospective jurors, Kelley decided to “call an audible” and delay plans to bring in the second panel of 100 on Thursday afternoon.
To personally deliver the message, Kelley left his 11th floor courtroom and took the elevator down to the first-floor jury room. Kelley told the group to report Friday morning instead.
“It’s taking longer than anticipated,” said the judge, who also issued an order for the group to avoid all media coverage of the case.
Several people in the first group said they watched TV news reports before coming to the courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach.
The lawyers now won’t be able to start asking their questions until Monday of the final group of prospective jurors who have no known conflicts or bias.
Even though only six jurors and two alternates are needed for the trial, Kelley had juror summons issued for 200 people.
But it was impossible to know how many were aware of the high-profile case until he asked for a show of hands if anyone had heard about it.
“I knew we wouldn’t know how bad the problem would be until I asked the first question,” Kelley told the attorneys at one point.
It turned out that one of Dippolito’s neighbors was among the first group of 100 potential jurors.
“I live across the street from where she lives,” the woman said, recalling the community was abuzz over Dippolito’s August 2009 arrest on a charge of solicitation to commit first-degree murder with a firearm. “I don’t think I can sit on a jury and be very fair.”
She was immediately released.
Later, defense attorney Brian Claypool praised the judge for his handling of the jury pool difficulties and said he expected many of the prospective jurors would signal that they were familar with Dippolito.
But not everyone who said they were aware of Dippolito from news reports over the years was let go.
One woman who made it to the next round of questioning said she found out from TV news that “she was trying to look for someone to kill her husband.” The juror insisted she could be impartial.
Once the second trial begins, the defense plans to focus on its claims that Boynton Beach Police — hungry for fame and publicity — teamed with the “Cops” show and violated Dippolito’s constitutional rights, and later destroyed evidence or failed to preserve it.
Attorneys Claypool and Greg Rosenfeld argue Dippolito was the victim of entrapment by the police, who had the help of her former lover Mohamed Shihadeh, a confidential informant.
Prosecutors Craig Williams and Laura Laurie say the police undercover work prevented an actual murder. They contend Dippolito had “cold” intentions when she hired an undercover cop who posed as a hit man.
Claypool said it’s still unclear whether Dippolito, who didn’t take the witness stand at the first trial, will testify this time. He called it a “game-time decision” based on how the trial is going.
In February, during a hearing about her request to throw out the charge, she said she was just following a reality TV “script” when she talked of seeking husband’s murder. Dalia Dippolito tried a similar defense in her first trial.