Dibartolo’s Turn Nears At Murder Trial More Than 20 Defense Witnesses, Including The Former Deputy, To Testify

Over the past three weeks, prosecutors have produced a boxcar-load of circumstantial evidence against Tom DiBartolo, the former sheriff’s deputy accused of murdering his wife.

With everything from surveillance tapes to the testimony of former mistresses seemingly pointing to DiBartolo’s guilt, the prosecution is about to rest its case. Two final witnesses - the detectives who arrested DiBartolo - are scheduled to testify today.

Then it’ll be DiBartolo’s turn.

Defense attorney Maryann Moreno will make an opening statement in Spokane County Superior Court, then call the first of more than 20 defense witnesses.

Moreno hopes their testimony, over about five days, will convince at least one juror that DiBartolo, 43, is innocent.

No witness in that effort is more important than the defendant himself.

Sometime this week, he’ll give jurors his detailed account of what happened the night of Nov. 2, 1996, when his wife, Patty, was shot in the head at Lincoln Park on the South Hill.

Moreno’s strategy is to minimize her client’s moral flaws and to concentrate on undercutting key prosecution evidence.

That includes:

The tape of a 911 call DiBartolo said he made while racing from the park to a hospital in a minivan.

Based on the length of the call, however, detectives said DiBartolo drove at an average speed of 36 mph.

A bullet hole in the passenger door of the van that doesn’t square with DiBartolo’s account of what happened.

He said the door was open when his wife was shot and he was wounded. Prosecutors say the door had to have been closed.

Changes in the stories he gave police after the murder.

They include: details about gloves supposedly worn by the gunman, the color of a car he claims to have seen enter the park just before the murder, how he grabbed the pistol that caused his abdomen wound and the date when he realized his wife’s insurance policy had a double-payment clause.

Moreno’s chief task is to give jurors reasons to question everything prosecutors have used as evidence.

“A defense attorney in this kind of case has to decide how to prioritize,” said Bevan Maxey, a Spokane criminal defense attorney.

“This is a case of circumstantial evidence. You try to show that mostly what the prosecutors are offering is speculation about what happened,” he said.

Then the challenge for the defense is to counter the prosecution’s experts with its own.

Moreno’s experts will be called to challenge gunpowder, blood and bullet hole evidence that contradicts DiBartolo’s version of what happened.

“If they’re good experts,” Maxey said, “most jurors start wondering which side is right and start having reasonable doubt.”

Prosecutors say DiBartolo killed his wife of 19 years to collect $100,000 in insurance money and make it easier to see another woman.

He is accused of carefully planning the murder, bringing Patty DiBartolo to the park several times before the shooting.

That night, he didn’t carry his police handgun. Several witnesses testified they seldom saw him go anywhere without it.

Prosecutors also portrayed DiBartolo as a hypocrite and a liar, saying he was cavorting with two mistresses after the murder while telling police he still hadn’t recovered from the bullet wound.

Jurors saw a police videotape showing DiBartolo spending many hours at the north Spokane home of girlfriend Christine Ritchie. The footage was shot from a next-door neighbor’s house.

DiBartolo insists he and his wife had returned to their van from a walk in the park when two men approached them and demanded cash. He said one found a gun in the glove box, took it out and said, “Maybe we should just cap ya.”

DiBartolo said he rushed the man and during the struggle, two shots were fired.

The defense will argue that police gathered evidence only that pointed to DiBartolo as the killer.

Moreno will suggest that detectives were too busy trying to incriminate DiBartolo to find the real killer. She also will try to convince the jury that DiBartolo had no clear motive to kill his wife.

Jurors may begin deliberating as early as Dec. 10.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT Two final witnesses - the detectives who arrested Tom DiBartolo - are scheduled to testify for the prosecution today. Then defense attorney Maryann Moreno will make an opening statement.