The 37-year-old Dalia was found guilty of soliciting the first-degree murder of her husband. She was caught on camera while hiring a hitman to kill Michael Dippolito. After finding her guilty of soliciting first-degree murder, police arrested her.
The famous former Florida escort was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2017 as the court found her audio and video from 2009 in which she was planning a plot to kill her husband. Their marriage worked for only six months at that time. The TV shows Cops and ABC’s 20/20 also featured this case which gained national attention.
The nationally famous case resulted in two retrials and a hung jury. In a two-hour exclusive interview with 20/20 airing on Friday night, her attorney revealed that Dalia had turned to a life of faith in jail. She is now leading a bible study group behind bars.
Eleven years and three trials and two convictions later, Brian Claypool told about the struggle of Dalia to build a relationship with her young son. He further said: ‘Everybody wants to lynch her by saying ‘Dalia Dippolito is a monster’. They all needed to understand her soul. She has faith and she’s been relying on it to get through being in prison. Everyone thinks that she’s pretending to be religious as she wants to be around her son.’
Dalia Dippolito told an undercover police detective, Widy Jean, that she was 5,000 percent sure to kill her husband, but became pregnant while awaiting her second trial. During her trial, the prosecution showed a 23-minute video in which Dalia was ready to pay $7,000 to an undercover officer to kill her husband.
Claypool says: ‘Her family is now raising the young boy and brings him to visit her mother at least once or twice a month. They drive five hours to reach Lowell Correctional Facility in Marion County, Florida.
‘Every time I talk to Dalia it seems like a roller coaster ride for her to stay in jail. She is trying her best to get a new trial and to get out of the bars. She is very anxious to work with us to get her a new trial and to come out of jail. It’s very painful to see her longing for her child. It’s breaking her heart to not be around her son.’
During her trial, prosecutors believed that she wanted control of the property and savings of her husband. The couple’s Palm Beach County townhouse is very luxurious and expensive.
In 2011, the court sentenced her to 20 years, but the retrial in 2016 resulted in a 3-3 hung jury. During her sentencing, prosecutors wanted her to be in prison for at least 30 years while her attorneys pushed for two years and probation.
Her lawyers wanted the court to neglect her one-time mistake and asked the former escort to raise her 14-months-old son. Glenn Kelley, the Judge of Palm Beach County, said: ‘She planned a cold and calculated way to kill her husband.’
Michael said: ‘Dalia ruined my life when she plotted a plan to have me killed. She and her attorneys portrayed me as a wife-beater to justify her actions. They tried to ruin my image to prove her innocent.’
Michael Dippolito’s ex-wife tried to kill him when they were newlyweds. After that, Michael found love with a new woman, Gloria.
Dalia Dippolito made various plans with Jean on how to kill her husband and finally, they decided to kill him at the couple’s home. She wanted it to be like a batched burglary while she was at the gym.
The 20/20 episode will feature a new interview with Jean, in which he will tell about posing as a hit man. The TV show, ABC will feature Down Payment on Death on Friday, May 15 at 9 pm.