Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dalia Dippolito to remain on house arrest
Murder-for-hire retrial set for April
Dalia Dippolito will remain on house arrest as she awaits a third trial on a 2009 murder-for-hire charge, a judge decided Friday.
In a Friday afternoon status check hearing, Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley set a tentative date of April for the retrial, pending a motion by the defense to change venues to Jacksonville, Orlando or Tampa to ensure a fair trial.
Last week, Dippolito’s attorneys requested that the 34-year-old be granted freedom, arguing that seven years, four months and 29 days of being on house arrest with a GPSankle monitor to track the Boynton Beach woman’s movements is “punitive” and violates her rights.
On Friday, attorneys Greg Rosenfeld and Brian Claypool argued for Kelley to end Dippolito’s 24-hour curfew, confinement at her mother’s house and constant tracking by law enforcement because she is not a flight-risk or a danger to the community. Kelley denied the motion, but said he would not outright deny a modification to the terms of her confinement.
The defense would be required to file paperwork that specifically identifies additional freedoms Dippolito wishes to have while on house arrest. Dippolito has been granted modifications to her house arrest in the past when she asked to be able to leave her house to attend church.
Now, she is asking for increased freedom to fulfill her duties as a new
mother.
“Just to get outside, to walk around in a stroller with her child, to get some fresh air,” Rosenfeld said outside the courtroom. “To be a mom.”
The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office has long opposed any change in Dippolito’s house-arrest conditions, which allow only trips to church, medical appointments, her lawyer’s office and court.
Assistant State Attorney Laura Laurie argued Friday that having an infant child increases Dippolito’s risk of flight.
“The thoughts that would presumably be going through someone’s head that if you’re convicted of this crime again and facing a hefty sentence, you’ll be stripped from that child,” she said. “And therefore would increase the odds that someone would decide to take the risk and take off.”
Ex-husband Michael Dippolito wants her to be kept under close watch, considering that she’s accused of trying to have him killed by a hit man, who turned out to be an undercover Boynton Beach police officer.
Prosecutors had argued in March to have Dippolito thrown in jail before her most recent retrial last month because she had violated her pretrial-release conditions of her $25,000 bond when she appeared on the ABC television program
Rosenfeld and Claypool say that violation was not their client’s fault then and shouldn’t be held against her now.
The attorneys noted that in the recent mistrial, three of six jurors voted not guilty, and the two alternate jurors later told the news media they too would have acquitted on the solicitation to commit first-degree murder count.
The defense attorneys also insist Dalia Dippolito is not a danger to Michael Dippolito, saying he and his white Porsche have been seen in the general vicinity of her house. If he felt threatened by Dippolito, he would be more diligent in avoiding her, Rosenfeld said.
At her first trial in 2011, Dippolito was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The jury rejected her then-defense that she was merely acting for a reality TV show hoax orchestrated by ex-husband Michael Dippolito.
A state appeals court in 2014 threw out the conviction because of a problem with jury selection.
Both trials have featured an Aug. 5, 2009, video of police officers approaching Dippolito at a police-staged fake-murder scene. Dippolito is seen shrieking when informed her husband had been killed in their townhome.
Due to the high-profile nature of the case, Dippolito’s attorneys say they worry about securing an untainted jury pool locally.
The defense must file a motion by next Friday if they wish to change the location of the retrial, which Kelley said would be a monumental task between judge, venue and jury availability.
“Even staying here, getting this case reset behind the scenes is a monumental task,” Kelley said. “After seven years, going on eight, I want to get this case concluded.”