Reality TV clip of Florida mom telling undercover cop she was '5,000 percent sure she wanted her husband killed' before she 'ordered a hitman' is shown to murder-for-hire trial again as jury admits they are deadlocked
- Undercover audio and video recordings are again being played for jurors deliberating the fate of Dalia Dippolito
- She is accused of trying to hire a hit man to murder her husband, Michael in 2009
- Six jurors asked on Tuesday to review tapes of Dippolito talking to an informant and undercover cop posing as the hit man
- If convicted of solicitation of first-degree murder, she would face a possible 20-year sentence
- On Tuesday, jurors told a judge they are deadlocked, but he refused to call a mistrial, saying they should give their deliberations more time
Undercover audio and video recordings were played again for jurors deliberating the fate of a Florida woman accused of trying to hire a hit man to murder her husband.
The six jurors had asked on Tuesday to review tapes of Dalia Dippolito talking to an informant and an undercover officer posing as the hit man.
The jurors later told a judge they are deadlocked, but he refused to call a mistrial, saying they should give their deliberations more time.
If convicted of solicitation of first-degree murder, the 34-year-old Dippolito would face a possible 20-year sentence.
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Undercover audio and video recordings are again being played for jurors deliberating the fate of Dalia Dippolito (pictured in court on Tuesday)
Dippolito (pictured left in court) is accused of trying to hire a hit man to murder her then-husband Michael Dippolito (couple pictured together, right)
In one of the tapes reviewed again by jurors on Tuesday, Dippolito tells police informant and her former lover Mohammed Shihadeh to find her a hit man.
In another, she tells Boynton Beach Detective Widy Jean she was '5,000 percent sure' she wanted her then-husband Michael Dippolito killed.
Those 2009 conversations were seen by millions when shown on television's 'Cops.'
Dippolito was convicted in 2011, but that verdict was thrown out on appeal.
The jurors hearing the case, who began deliberating on Tuesday morning, told Judge Glenn Kelley after seven hours of deliberations that they couldn't agree on a verdict.
Kelley told them to come back on Wednesday and try again.
After jurors were sent home, Dippolito's attorneys exchanged hugs.
'We hope that Miss Dippolito gets the justice she deserves,' one of her attorneys, Greg Rosenfeld, said outside the courthouse. Prosecutors left without comment.
Since her initial trial in 2011, prosecutors have contended that Dippolito's own words prove she wanted a hit man to murder her newlywed husband.
Meanwhile, the defense contended the police investigation was skewed by the presence of the reality TV show cameras.
Her attorneys have argued detectives were more interested in starring on the television show Cops than they were in pursuing truth and justice.
Neither side strayed from their scripts during closing arguments at her retrial on Monday.
Prosecutor Craig Williams spent most of his closing argument replaying hidden-camera videos that have been seen by millions on Cops, 20/20 and online since the department made them public in 2009.
Dippolito's former lover and police Informant Mohammed Shihadeh is seen in this file image
In one, Dippolito demanded that Shihadeh find her a hit man, giving him a $1,200 deposit for his trouble and to buy the killer a gun.
In another, she told undercover detective Jean, portraying a hit man, she was '5,000 per cent sure' she wanted her husband dead. She also promised to pay him $7,000.
That video shows Dippolito, dressed in tank top and pony tail, entering Jean's red convertible and discussing not only the cost of killing her convicted conman husband, but how, when and where it would be done.
'Are you sure you want to kill this dude?' Jean asks her.
Dippolito, seeming uncomfortable with the question, appears to urge Jean to be more circumspect.
'Do we really have to? I would rather be less, whatever, about the deal,' Dippolito tells Jean, swallowing laughter.
Narrating the video for the jury last week, Jean testified that Dippolito opened up once he said she's beautiful.
After these pleasantries, the video shows her agreeing to pay $7,000 for the murder — a $1,000 premium since she wouldn't be able to pay in advance.
He then tells her he'll break into their house, put two bullets in her husband's head and make it look like a robbery.
'I need it done, like, this week,' Dippolito says, assuring Jean she wouldn't stiff him. 'You obviously know where I am.'
Dippolito then tells Jean her husband would soon withdraw $10,000 from a bank, and suggests killing him there instead, taking the even-higher sum as payment.
'I don't know if that's too public for you,' she says.
No, Jean replies, the extra cash might be worth the risk.
'Just so you know, all of these here are tender points,' she adds, pointing to her lower back to show where her husband was recovering from liposuction surgery.
Jean testified that he tried to give Dippolito a way out by warning that she would not be able to change her mind later.
Dippolito, pictured center in court on Monday, and her attorneys Greg Rosenfeld, left, and Brian Claypool, right, whisper behind her before the start of testimony in her retrial
Prosecutors have argued that Dippolito's (pictured on Monday) own words - recorded by hidden camera - prove she wanted a hit man to murder her newlywed husband, Michael
'No, there is no changing,' she replies. 'There is no — I'm determined already. I'm positive, like 5,000 percent sure.'
She didn't appear to shed a tear while crying after being told falsely by a detective her husband was dead.
'It was an act,' prosecutor Laura Laurie told the jury on Tuesday during her rebuttal closing argument.
'She was probably dancing inside. She thought she got what she wanted.'
Pointing to Dippolito's suggestion that Jean kill her husband at the bank, 'she wanted her husband to finance his own murder.'
Prosecutor Craig Williams told the jury, the case is based '100 per cent on her words, her actions, her intent - all day, every day,' pointing at the expressionless defendant.
When Jean said he would put two bullets in Michael Dippolito's head and she agreed, 'it's over', Williams said.
However, Brian Claypool, Dippolito's attorney, countered by blasting the Boynton Beach Police Department's investigation, calling it 'evil, manipulative, corrupt, self-serving'.
He said Shihadeh first told detectives Dippolito was a domestic abuse victim and said they could have handled it simply by calling her.
Instead, he said, detectives 'escalated' the investigation to impress Cops producers, who were arriving in town to film cases with the department.
He slammed detectives for not recording dozens of phones calls and a key meeting between Shihadeh and Dippolito.
He said police knew these conversations would damage their 'script' by showing she was being pressured to meet with the supposed hitman.
Convicting Dippolito, he said, would reward the department's 'lying and cheating'.
'This case is way bigger than Dalia Dippolito,' Claypool said.
'This case is about holding law enforcement accountable, not only here but everywhere... You all have a stake in this.'
Claypool also revealed to the jury that Dippolito has an infant son at home, according to Local 10.
'Give her that freedom back to go home to her family and her infant son,' Claypool said during closing arguments.
'They tossed Dalia Dippolito under the bus,' he added. 'They made this way more than it ever was, and they could care less about her constitutional rights.'
Claypool did not give any further information about Dippolito's son or the identity of his father.
Dippolito briefly cried during Claypool's argument on Monday as other defense attorneys consoled her.
She is being retried on charges of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
Her 2011 conviction and 20-year sentence were overturned on appeal because of mistakes during jury selection by the previous judge.
Prosecutors didn't lay out a motive during this trial.
Previously, they said they believe she wanted control of her husband's $250,000 savings and their $225,000 town house.
Dippolito also did not testify this time.
At her previous trial and during court hearings, she said she was only acting, thinking she, now ex-husband Michael Dippolito and Mohammed Shihadeh were all involved in an ill-planned video project aimed at landing their own reality TV show.
She also said previously that Shihadeh threatened her with a gun if she didn't meet Jean.
Michael Dippolito and Shihadeh have denied there was a video project and Shihadeh has denied threatening Dippolito.
Shihadeh did say Boynton Beach detectives threatened him with arrest if he didn't stick with the investigation.
Such a threat would violate department policy.
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