Opening statements begin in Dalia Dippolito murder-for-hire retrial

Boynton Beach woman accused of hiring undercover officer to kill husband

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. ā€“ Opening statements began Wednesday in the retrial of a Boynton Beach woman accused of hiring an undercover police officer to kill her husband.

A jury of four women and two men were chosen late Tuesday over a four-day process that went twice as long as planned because of extensive television coverage of the case against Dalia Dippolito.

Dippolito is accused of paying an undercover police officer, who was posing as a hit man, to kill her husband. The Boynton Beach Police Department staged a crime scene and recorded her reaction on the day her husband was supposed to be killed.

The 34-year-old woman was convicted of solicitation to commit first-degree murder in 2011 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. However, the Fourth District Court of AppealĀ reversed the convictionĀ in 2014 because of a mistake during jury selection.

Judge Glenn Kelley rejected several defense requests to move Dippolito's retrial out of Palm Beach County or bring in an out-of-county jury. Kelley said he believes that the extensive questioning the jurors underwent about their knowledge of the case, their television viewing habits and numerous other topics weeded out those who could not be impartial.

Kelley and the attorneys screened 200 prospective jurors before settling on the six jurors and two alternates.

Dippolito never testified during her first trial, but she said in a hearing earlier this year that she was acting for a television show and wasn't really plotting a murder for hire.

A video recorded by the Boynton Beach Police Department shows Dippolito crying at the staged crime scene on the day of her August 2009 arrest. Another video shows Dippolito giving money to the undercover officer, telling him that she was "5,000 percent sure" she wanted her then-husband dead.

Dippolito's former attorney, Michael Salnick, argued during her first trial that she thought she was being recorded as part of a hoax to get her husband on a reality television show.

Prosecutors allege that Dippolito offered an undercover officer $7,000 to kill her then-husband.

"She leaves to go work at the gym so her husband can get two bullets in the head and be murdered inside their own home," assistant state attorney Craig Williams told jurors in his opening statements.

The current defense team claims the Boynton Beach Police Department violated Dippolito's constitutional rights by setting her up with the help of former lover Mohamed Shihadeh, who became a confidential informant for police. Defense attorneys Brian Claypool and Greg Rosenfeld argue that police staged the phony crime and invited the TV show "Cops" there to gain publicity.

"This department was deceiving and manipulating for their own fame and notoriety," Claypool said during his opening remarks.

The trial, which is expected to last a week, was interrupted several times by objections from Dippolito's attorneys.

"Stop bickering, act professionally or there will be sanctions," Kelley told the attorneys.

Dippolito has been out of jail on a $25,000 bond while awaiting retrial.


About the Authors:

Peter Burke returned for a second stint of duty at Local 10 News in February 2014.