US Supreme Court Rejects Dalia Dippolito's Murder-For-Hire Appeal

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal in a high-profile case in which a Palm Beach County woman was accused of trying to use a hitman to kill her then-husband.

The court refused to take up an appeal by Dalia Dippolito, who was convicted on a charge of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.

As is common, the court did not explain its reasons for the decision.

Dippolito was accused of plotting in 2009 to kill her then-husband, Mike, with her lover reporting the alleged scheme to Boynton Beach police. During an investigation, police made recordings of conversations between Dippolito and her lover and between Dippolito and the purported hitman, who was an undercover officer.

Dippolito's attorneys argued, in part, that police improperly entrapped her, including by involving the television show "Cops" in the case.

The state 4th District Court of Appeal last year upheld Dippolito's conviction, and the Florida Supreme Court declined to take up an appeal. Dippolito's attorneys then went to the U.S. Supreme Court, contending that a circuit judge incorrectly ruled on issues related to her entrapment arguments.

"This case presents the opportunity to clarify whether a criminal defendant has the right to present objective entrapment, a defense that serves as an absolute bar to criminal liability, to the jury," said a brief filed at the U.S. Supreme Court in December. "The (Supreme) Court should also address whether it is constitutional to deprive criminal defendants of the ability to put dispositive factual disputes before the jury and instead allow trial court judges to resolve those disputes."

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