No sanctions for Dippolito’s lawyers

A Coral Springs woman played the Florida Lottery’s $10,000,000 World Class Cash Scratch-Off game and won $1 million, state officials said.

When Van Luong, 30, claimed her prize in Tallahassee last week she opted for a one-time, lump-sum payment of $748,000, officials said.

Luong bought her winning ticket for $25 at Wiles Road Chevron, 7380 Wiles Road in Coral Springs.

The store will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning scratch-off ticket.

The scratch-off game features two top prizes of $10 million and 46 prizes of $1 million, according to the Florida Lottery.

Dalia Dippolito’s lawyers don’t have to fork over nearly $1,200 to prosecutors who scored a guilty verdict in her murder-for-hire retrial.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley on Tuesday ruled against a bid by the State Attorney’s Office to force the defense to pay the cost of a prosecution expert’s time in June.

The judge explained he didn’t have the power under court rules to order such a payout.

Kelley also noted that during the trial he already imposed the only “available remedy” for the failure of Dippolito to appear for a court-ordered mental health examination.

That is, he barred the defense from claiming to the jury that Dippolito suffered from domestic abuse in her marriage, resulting in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Before the trial, the defense argued Dippolito’s condition made her susceptible to alleged attempts by Boynton Beach police to arrange meetings between her and an undercover cop posing as a hit man.

But Dippolito couldn’t use that defense in the trial unless she first submitted to an exam by a psychologist hired by prosecutors.

Prosecutors recently claimed that the defense intentionally skipped a scheduled exam on a weekend day during the trial, thereby wasting hours of the expert’s time and other related expenses.

Dippolito, 34, is appealing her conviction and 16-year prison sentence for scheming to have her husband killed in the summer of 2009.