A mistrial has been delcared in the trial of Dalia Dippolito, the South Florida woman accused of trying to hire a hit man to murder her newlywed husband.
The six jurors asked Judge Glenn Kelley if they could consider a lesser charge in the case, which he said they could not do. That came after defense attorneys raised concerns that a jury member was possibly talking to a media member, forcing Kelly to ask each jury member if they had contact - which they all denied.
Kelley said the vote was split 3-3, saying he "had" to declare the mistrial as a result.
Dippolito claimed her abused her and said police should have helped.
In an exclusive interview conducted before the trial ended, Dippolito told NBC's Dateline that Boynton Beach Police used her and set her up to look good on the reality TV show 'Cops'.
"They turned what should have been a complaint and getting me help and questioning men into this big production for a 'Cops' TV show deadline that they had. They just started manufacturing all of these things and creating these scenarios and putting me in these situations that look horrible," said Dippolito.
Her ex-husband Mike Dippolito calls the abuse allegations non-sense. He talked to reporters at a news conference after Wednesday's mistrial. "You call me an abuser. That is real convenient for her. It is just not true and anybody that knows me will you, that's not me," said Dippolito's ex.
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Prosecutors made no comments on camera after Wednesday's proceedings, but the State Attorney's Office said Dippolito will be tried a third time.
Late Tuesday, the jury said they couldn't agree on a verdict in Dippolito's solicitation of first-degree murder trial. Kelley told them to keep deliberating. The 34-year-old Dippolito would have faced a possible 20-year sentence.
The jury sent a question to the judge asking to review transcripts of recordings where Dippolito allegedly tries to get an informant to find her a hit man. They also wanted video transcripts where she tells an undercover officer posing as a hit man she was “5,000 percent sure'' she wanted Michael Dippolito killed. Those 2009 conversations were seen by millions when shown television's “Cops.''
Dippolito was convicted in 2011 but that verdict was thrown out on appeal. The State Attorney's Office said they will retry Dippolito for a third time.
She remains on house arrest with a hearing on that taking place on January 6th.
