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"Murder For Hire" Wife To Take Stand

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WEST PALM BEACH (CBSMiami/AP) — A woman accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill her husband is expected to testify Tuesday for the first time.

Dalia Dippolito, 33, is facing a May retrial on the 2009 charges. She has pleaded not guilty.

Dippolito is expected to testify at the pretrial hearing that a former lover threatened her with a gun and pressured her to speak to the hit man.  The hitman was, in reality, an undercover Boynton Beach police officer.

Dippolito's attorneys believe they can prove that she was a victim of entrapment by the Boynton Beach Police Department. The case gained national notoriety because "Cops" happened to be filming with the Boynton Beach police.

The undercover detective, who pretended to be a hitman, and police staged a crime scene to make it look like Michael Dippolito had been murdered. They captured Dalia's reaction and the case made headlines coast to coast as she was arrested.

She was convicted at trial and sentenced to 20 years in prison but an appeals court tossed out the case because of reported issues at jury selection.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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