Dippolito juror calls case against her a ‘slam dunk’

A juror in Dalia Dippolito’s retrial broke his silence Monday, saying he decided to vote for a guilty verdict because the murder-for-hire case was “one of those slam dunks.”

Stephen Shaw, a retired AT&T company manager from West Boynton, told the Sun Sentinel he favored a conviction after hearing recordings of Dippolito speaking with an undercover Boynton Beach Police officer posing as a hit man in the summer of 2009.

Shaw, a military veteran, was a member of the six-person panel that deadlocked in a 3-3 vote, resulting in a mistrial. He said he rejected the defense argument that Dippolito, accused of plotting the death of her newlywed husband, should be acquitted because of alleged police misconduct.

“Three of the (six) jurors bought it,” Shaw said, adding he never would have joined in a notguilty vote because Dippolito’s

“She missed her calling. She should have been a Hollywood actress.” Stephen Shaw, juror in Dalia Dippolito retrial

statements on the police videos were so incriminating. “If I was the only (holdout) I would have hung that jury.”

The juror said he would not be surprised if Dippolito’s upcoming third trial produces another deadlocked jury, because the defense plans to continue claiming the cops violated Dippolito’s rights.

Shaw said he agrees with legal experts who say fewer people in society trust law enforcement these days than they did at the time of Dippolito’s first trial more than five years ago.

Back then, she was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison by a judge who called her “pure evil.” Her defense then was that she was only acting at her husband’s direction for a reality TV show idea.

Dippolito, 34, got a second trial because a state appellate court said the first jury was exposed to prejudicial allegations about her.

Shaw described last week’s split: Both men of the jury were joined in the end by one female juror, in a vote for a conviction.

He said three other women on the jury were set on an acquittal, although one woman inquired whether there was another charge that could be considered instead of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.

Shaw said the juror told the group, “She’s guilty of something; I just don’t know what it is.”

Though there was no chance of a unanimous verdict, the panel wound up in deliberations that lasted more than eight hours.

The other five jurors either could not be reached for comment or declined to speak publicly since Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley declared a mistrial last Wednesday.

Shaw said he was “insulted” when defense attorney Brian Claypool pleaded to the jury, “If you find Dalia Dippolito guilty, you are casting a vote for police corruption.”

The juror said he did not believe for one moment Dippolito was the victim of a police setup, allegedly orchestrated to create a good episode for the “Cops” reality television program.

Shaw said he thinks it’s clear on the undercover recordings that Dippolito truly wanted to arrange the murder of Michael Dippolito, and even gave a police informant $1,200 and photos of the intended victim.

Moreover, the fake hit man, Officer Widy Jean, repeatedly asked whether Dalia Dippolito was sure about the planned killing and Dippolito left her townhouse early in the morning as instructed by Jean.

“I don’t know what more you need,” Shaw said, agreeing with the prosecutors who said the defense tried to raise doubts about the cops to “deflect” from Dippolito’s words and actions.

Shaw said he had no problem with Boynton Beach police posting a YouTube video of Dippolito at a staged crimescene on Aug. 5, 2009. In the video, Dippolito is seen shrieking when informed by officers that her husband had just been killed in their townhome.

“She missed her calling,” Shaw said. “She should have been a Hollywood actress.”

The juror said no one on the panel expressed sympathy for Dippolito after Claypool told them she was the mother of an infant son.

“We didn’t care if she had 10 children,” Shaw said, noting he found it “shocking” that Dippolito had a baby while on house arrest awaiting the trial.

Shaw joked that if he ever finds himself charged with a serious felony he would want defense attorneys Claypool and Greg Rosenfeld, who worked on the Dippolito case for free.

“I’ll be hiring these people,” Shaw said, complimenting the lawyers for being “very effective if you’re into buying” their condemn-the-cops approach.

On Thursday, alternate juror Widlet Jean of West Palm Beach told the Sun Sentinel that he would have voted to acquit Dippolito if he had the opportunity. Jean — no relation to the Boynton Beach officer —agreed with the defense claims of police corruption.

“They screwed up everything just to get on a TV show,” he said of the police department inviting “Cops” to shoot video of the Dippolito investigation. “They violated a lot of laws.”

Dippolito