Boynton Beach Murder-For-Hire Trial Resumes
WEST PALM BEACH (CBS4) - After a week long break, trial resumed Monday for a Boynton Beach woman accused of trying to hire a hit man to murder her husband.
This week the fake hit man, who was an undercover cop, is expected to take the stand. Prosecutors also plan to show the jury an undercover police video of either of Dalia Dippolito, 28, meeting with her lover Mohamed Shihadeh, and asking him to find her a hit man, or a meeting with the hit man herself, the cop.
One of those to take the stand Monday was Carlos Rehhold who placed hidden microphone on Shihadeh before he went to meet Dippolito, according to the Palm Beach Post. Reinhold testified that Shihadeh didn't want the wire in his pants because Dippolito may perform a sex act on him.
Lawyers for Dalia Dippolito claim there was never a real plan to hire a hitman but merely a hoax meant to get the couple on a reality TV show.
On the stand a week and a half ago Michael Dippolito, 40, denied that.
"Mr. Dippolito, did you know anything about a murder for hire plot against you?" the prosecutor asked.
"No," he answered.
During three days on the stand, Michael Dippolito told jurors about his checkered past -- he committed a fraud scheme and owes more than $100,000 in restitution. He is on probation and has also struggled with drug addiction in the past.
He also spoke about his quick courtship of Dalia Dippolito, the $20,000 engagement ring he bought her and how he perceived their life together.
Dippolito said he was scared in the months before his wife allegedly tried to hire a hit man to kill him. He testified that not only was there a threatening note left on the windshield of Chevy Tahoe but someone had also planted drugs in which the police found.
If convicted, Dippolito faces up to 30 years in prison.
