Eight years of full time prosecutors. Tens of thousands of pages of transcripts. Travel for dozens of witnesses and expert witnesses.
Today, as Dalia Dippolito prepares for a third trial, defense attorneys announced they intend to file multiple Florida Open Records requests with Palm Beach County to discover just how much taxpayer money is being used to prosecute Dippolito, who was accused of hiring what she thought was a hitman to kill her then husband which Dippolito steadfastly denies.
Local and national news have followed every twist and turn of this sensational case. When police arrested her; when the courts overturned the conviction in the first trial; when her second trial two months ago ended with a mistrial but the majority of the jurors sided with Dippolito; and everything in between.
Even as Dippolito remains under house arrest where she has been since before her first trial nearly eight years ago, prosecutors are going after her again in a round three.
Defense attorneys say even if people believe Dippolito did the crime, she’s already done the time. They contend that sentencing guidelines would suggest that she should get four years in prison. Yet Dippolito has already done nearly eight years on house arrest.
“We believe that ‘justice’ has been served by virtue of an untainted jury finding 5-3 in favor of Dippolito,” says Brian Claypool, Dippolito’s defense attorney. “The taxpayers of Palm Beach County should not have to bear the price tag associated with state prosecutors trying to save face and make a personal example out of Ms. Dippilito.”
“This is a politically motived prosecution. There is no other way to look at this. The State Attorney’s Office wants to win. This is about winning, and has become personal for the office. But at what cost,” says Greg Rosenfeld, another Dippolito defense attorney. “If this were not political they would not be pursuing this case. And given the obvious political motivations behind wanting a win, we believe taxpayers ought to know what it’s costing them.”
House arrest for Dippolito is restrictive. Dippolito must ask for permission to go anywhere, including the doctor’s office or church. And she wears an ankle monitor.
Claypool and Rosenfeld are working pro bono. Dippolito who was declared indigent would have qualified for a public defender. Palm Beach taxpayers are not paying Dippolito’s legal bills, but they are absorbing other costs such as the $10,000 for trial transcripts that the judge approved.
For information about Dalia Dippolito and the case, please visit https://goo.gl/BxkfKR.
MEDIA CONTACT FOR DALIA DIPPOLITO DEFENSE:
Glenn Selig
PR Firm: The Publicity Agency
Phone: (813) 708-1220 x7777
Email:
SOURCE: Dalia Dippolito Defense Team
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