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A Boynton Beach woman who was found guilty of hiring an undercover police officer to kill her husband has been granted a new trial.
Dalia Dippolito was convicted of solicitation to commit first-degree murder in 2011, but the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed the conviction.
Dippolito was famously caught on video by police who staged an elaborate murder scene to catch her reaction when they told her that her husband had been killed.
In fact, the supposed hit man was an undercover officer with whom Dippolito was also recorded arranging her husband’s murder.
The court said the defense should have been allowed to question the jurors individually to find out what they knew about the case in order not to taint other jurors.
They also cited a juror who said in front of the jury group he’d heard Dippolito had also tried to poison her husband, saying that remark should have necessitated the entire pool being dismissed.
Dippolito, who has been on house arrest, was thrilled, according to her appellant attorney, Robert Sirianni, Jr.
“She jumped out of her seat, I think, because I heard her over the phone,” said Sirianni from his Winter Park office. “She said ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ and I said ‘Yeah, we won.”
Former Palm Beach County prosecutor Ellen Roberts said she wouldn’t be surprised if Dippolito accepted a plea deal this time around.
“I rarely have tried a case a second time because usually they say ‘I know I’m going down so I’ll cut my losses,'” said Roberts.
Agencies/Canadajournal
