 |
|
||
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
   |  | ||||||||||||||||||
Horowitz: 'It was just a scene of blood'Famed attorney describes finding wife slain at dream houseBy Lisa Sweetingham YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSMARTINEZ, California (Court TV) -- Bay Area attorney Daniel Horowitz, who has spent his life defending accused criminals, took the witness stand Tuesday and testified against a teenage neighbor who is charged with the brutal murder of Horowitz's wife of 11 years. "I take it, sir, you remember the date: October 15, 2005?" Prosecutor Harold Jewett asked. "Yes," Horowitz said with a somber expression. Horowitz spoke calmly and slowly as he recalled the evening he came home to find his wife, former high-tech executive Pamela Vitale, lifeless in a fetal position on the floor inside the entryway of their home. "The minute I opened the door ... " he stopped short, gazed upward, and shook his head. He took a few moments to compose himself. "It was just a scene of blood and Pamela lying there." "For a second, it was like I was looking at a crime-scene photograph," Horowitz said. "But I knew it was real." He dropped his grocery bags, screamed his wife's name and fell to the floor to check for her pulse. "I knew she was dead, but I touched her," he said, gesturing toward his own neck. "There was so much blood. Her hand was in a claw shape, swollen. It was so obvious." Called 911Horowitz said he called 911, left the phone on the sofa, and returned to his wife. He cried and spoke to her before going out the door and standing on the deck. "As I was going outside, I knelt down one more time. I touched her on the neck one more time, just to make sure," he said. Horowitz told jurors that he and his wife had never met 17-year-old Scott Dyleski, a neighbor and former Boy Scout who is being tried as an adult for Vitale's murder. Horowitz had a tenuous connection to the boy. He did free legal work on a civil matter for Kim Curiel, whose husband owned a house nearby where about 12 people lived communally, including Dyleski and his mother, Esther Fielding. Fielding would drop off papers in his mailbox, Horowitz said, and he had spoken to her. Earlier Tuesday, Dyleski sat alone at the defense table as counsel had a sidebar with the judge. Horowitz grimaced at Dyleski the entire time. The teen did not look back. Prosecutors say Dyleski put on a ski mask and gloves and attacked 52-year-old Vitale around 10 a.m. that Saturday. Evidence at the crime scene and analysis of her laptop suggests Vitale never left her home, but was having cereal and surfing the Web, viewing genealogy sites and news stories about her husband's latest case. Dark obsessionDyleski was obsessed with murder, prosecutors say, and a search of his bedroom turned up his sinister drawings and dark verse. Investigators also discovered an H-shaped symbol in his room, which resembled the mark that Vitale's killer carved onto her back after she was dead. A DNA expert is expected to testify later this week about bloody clothes and other evidence that allegedly link the teen to Vitale's murder. A computer forensics expert testified Tuesday that he found evidence on Dyleski's computer of a June 21, 2005, purchase of a hook-shaped stainless steel pocket knife with serrated edges. Jurors were also shown examples of the images found on Dyleski's computer, including references to vivisection, an autopsy scene, defiled and deformed human faces, ghoulish drawings from the band Velvet Acid Christ, and an image of a cat with its mouth propped open in a torturous manner. Dyleski has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. He faces life in prison without parole if convicted. His public defender, Ellen Leonida, says Dyleski was home at the time of the slaying and that a third DNA profile found on items in evidence will show that someone else killed Vitale. Dyleski's father, Ken Dyleski, appeared in court Tuesday afternoon. The teen turned and briefly smiled at his father. His mother, a reluctant witness for the prosecution, has not been present during trial. Horowitz, 51, told jurors that he met Vitale through her sister, fell in love with the former flight attendant, and the couple wed on November 6, 1994. He described his affection for her two adult children, Mario and Marisa, who sat in the front row of the gallery Tuesday and conversed with Horowitz during a break. 'Strong in a kind way'The attorney lit up when he spoke of his former wife's charisma and talents. "She was strong in a kind way, not hard, but strong in a gentle caring way," he said. When faced with conflict, Horowitz said, "Pamela would have tried to make the bad thing go away. She would not lash out and hurt, ever." Vitale had a passion for Italian architecture and culture, Horowitz said, and she was meticulously designing the couple's dream home, an Italian villa on several acres with a vineyard. The couple lived in a two-bedroom modular home next door to the construction site, and their house was filled with files and papers related to Vitale's research and designs. "She would say, 'This is our house for the rest of our lives, so I have to put the energy in now to do it,'" Horowitz said. The home was about 80 percent completed when she was slain. On Tuesday, jurors saw pieces of ornate crown moulding, samples made of plaster, wood and foam. All were covered with blood. A criminalist testified that they were likely used by the killer to strike Vitale. Vitale suffered 26 head wounds, bruises that covered her entire body, and a deep stab wound to her abdomen. 
|
| ||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| © 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
