Dibartolo Story Questioned Prosecutors’ Re-Enactment Points Up ‘Inconsistencies’ In Story

Jurors on Wednesday saw a step-by-step re-enactment of how Tom DiBartolo’s wife was murdered in a South Hill park last year.

The dramatization was based on what DiBartolo told authorities last Nov. 7, five days after his wife’s death, said Spokane Police Detective Roger Bays.

Police talked to DiBartolo five days later to clear up inconsistencies in his first statements to police on Nov. 2, Bays said.

“That was standard practice, to get as much information as we could get,” Bays testified in Superior Court Wednesday.

But the second time DiBartolo talked to police “created more inconsistencies,” Bays told jurors.

Prosecutors say DiBartolo shot his wife Patty with a .38-caliber pistol he placed inside their van, which was parked near the entrance to Lincoln Park.

DiBartolo, 43, insists he and his wife were attacked by two men, one of whom found a handgun inside the van. During a struggle, DiBartolo said the gunman fired two shots - one that killed his wife and the other that wounded him in the abdomen.

Wednesday’s re-enactment took place in Judge Neal Rielly’s courtroom in front of a full-size, two-dimensional copy of the Toyota van DiBartolo drove to the park.

Prosecutors hoped the dramatization showed jurors the same inconsistencies investigators found in DiBartolo’s story.

Prosecutors said those inconsistencies include DiBartolo’s gunshot wound. The former sheriff’s deputy said he was wounded while he and the gunman were standing next to the passenger seat with the door open. But evidence already introduced shows a single bullet hole was made by a shot fired outside the door.

Another inconsistency is DiBartolo’s explanation for not finding his wife’s wounded body on the ground until after he shot at the two men.

After being hit in the abdomen, DiBartolo told detectives he heard a man tell the gunman to run. DiBartolo said he opened the van’s sliding door, grabbed his own gun and fired three shots toward the men, who he said were running about 40 to 50 yards away in the park.

But jurors have already been shown bloodstain evidence suggesting Patty DiBartolo’s body was close to the sliding door and that DiBartolo would have had no trouble seeing her as he reached for his gun.

DiBartolo’s defense attorney, Maryann Moreno, tried to blunt the impact of the courtroom dramatization by suggesting detectives pressured DiBartolo into the Nov. 7 reenactment and interview.

“Were you concerned with bringing him back to the scene of his wife’s recent murder?” Moreno asked Bays.

Bays said he and fellow investigator Cal Walker were concerned, telling DiBartolo he could reschedule the interview. DiBartolo refused the offer, Bays said.

“He told us he was fine, saying, ‘I gotta do this,”’ Bays testified.

In court Wednesday, Bays played the role of DiBartolo while Walker portrayed the alleged gunman who approached DiBartolo from the front of the van and demanded money.

Bays then switched roles to become the second assailant, and a court assistant took over the role of DiBartolo for the rest of the reenactment.

In place of gunfire, Walker said the word “bang.”

The jurors watched as the second man appeared from the left side of the van and knocked DiBartolo down. The gunman then reached into the van’s glove box and found a .38-caliber pistol kept there for Patty DiBartolo’s protection. Standing inside the open passenger door, the gunmen stretched out his arm and aimed the gun back toward the rear of the van.

“Maybe we ought to just cap ya,” the gunman told DiBartolo.

DiBartolo got up from the pavement where he’d been knocked and pushed the second man back with his left arm. At the same time, he rushed the gunman and tried to disarm him.

During the struggle, the gun went off, killing Patty DiBartolo. Grabbing the gunman’s arm with two hands, DiBartolo tried to pull the gun away. As the two were twisting, the gun went off again, wounding DiBartolo in the abdomen.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT Expected to testify today is Carrie Parks, a sketch artist who police asked to create a composite portrait of the men DiBartolo said killed his wife.