Dibartolo Witness Changes Story Jurors Won’t Hear Testimony Of Man Who Disappeared Before Trial Date

The minor drama that surfaced during Tom DiBartolo’s murder trial - would jurors hear a witness say he knows the real killer of Patty DiBartolo? - ended with a whimper Monday.

Witness Sam McNeal, who disappeared before testifying last week, came to court Monday, smiling and ready to talk.

But he never testified after defense attorney Maryann Moreno learned McNeal’s recollection of the night Patty DiBartolo was murdered has changed in the past few months.

Last week, McNeal failed to appear as a defense witness on behalf of Tom DiBartolo, accused of shooting his wife to death in Lincoln Park to collect insurance money and end his marriage.

McNeal was supposed to testify he was with two men the night of the murder and heard one of them talk about having shot a woman earlier in the evening.

In a hearing Monday afternoon without jurors present, McNeal was asked only what type of jackets the men in his car were wearing than night.

He said one was wearing an Oakland Raiders coat, the other a Seattle Seahawks jacket. Before the trial, McNeal had told investigators the man in back was wearing a Chicago White Sox jacket.

The other man, McNeal had told investigators earlier, said to the man in back: “You didn’t have to shoot the bitch.”

Moreno had hoped that statement - or at least the description of the White Sox jacket - would bolster DiBartolo’s chance of acquittal.

DiBartolo, 43, has said he and his wife were walking in Lincoln Park and were attacked by two men, one of whom was wearing a black White Sox coat.

DiBartolo said the man with the White Sox emblem took a handgun from their minivan in the park, killed his wife and wounded him during a struggle.

But during Monday’s hearing, McNeal insisted no one was wearing a White Sox jacket on Nov. 2, 1996.

“Is it possible one of the men wore a Sox jacket?” Moreno then asked McNeal.

Deputy Prosecutor Larry Steinmetz nearly leapt from his seat, objecting that McNeal had just said otherwise.

Judge Neal Rielly agreed that McNeal had just given his answer.

Soon after, McNeal was leaving the courtroom and never came back as a witness.

Even if McNeal had testified, Rielly previously had ruled that he could not repeat for jurors the statement he supposedly had heard one man tell the other. Rielly had said that statement is hearsay.

After Monday’s session had ended, Moreno admitted there was little value in having McNeal testify.

“There wasn’t much point after what we heard this afternoon,” she said. If McNeal had testified, Moreno said, she expected prosecutors would have raised questions about his lengthy court record and difficulty in keeping stories straight.

Moreno is expected to call her last defense witnesses today.

Jurors are to hear closing arguments Wednesday.

Also Monday, Spokane forensic pathologist Dr. George Lindholm told jurors he could not state with accuracy how long Patty DiBartolo had been dead before arriving at Sacred Heart Medical Center around 9:30 p.m.

A doctor called as a prosecution witness said he thought, based on blood pooling in her body and carbon dioxide tests, that she had been dead 30 to 45 minutes by the time he saw her in the emergency room.

Prosecutors say not only did DiBartolo kill his wife with a gunshot to the head, but he also waited several minutes before taking her to the hospital.

Asked by Moreno if the carbon dioxide level in DiBartolo’s wife’s body would establish time of death, Lindholm said it doesn’t.

“Scientifically, I can’t tell you it’s a valuable tool to identify time of death,” Lindholm said.

Later, 15-year-old Katrina DiBartolo, one of the couple’s five children, told jurors she had paged her father at 9:08 p.m., a time that helps support his account of what happened at Lincoln Park.

She said she made the call from home, feeling a moment of concern that someone might be prowling near the family’s Medical Lake home.

She said she remembered it was 9:08 because she looked at a microwave clock and was following an earlier suggestion by her father to always take note of when anything suspicious happened.

Prosecutors say DiBartolo killed his wife shortly after 9 p.m. He testified last week that he and his wife were walking in the park when he received the page from Katrina. He said they then walked back to the car, where they were accosted by two men demanding money.

Prosecutors want jurors to believe DiBartolo not only shot his wife but also waited five or more minutes before driving her to Sacred Heart for treatment.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT Defense attorney Maryann Moreno is expected to call her last witnesses today. Jurors are to hear closing arguments in the trial Wednesday.