Money The Motive, Say Dibartolo Prosecutors They Claim Insurance Windfall, Love Drove Ex-Deputy To Kill Wife

Spokane County prosecutors will tell a jury that former sheriff’s deputy Tom DiBartolo killed his wife last winter to avoid a messy divorce, collect insurance money and marry another woman.

Prosecutors arrested and charged DiBartolo in January for the murder of Patty DiBartolo, 39.

But they waited until this week to reveal what they believe was DiBartolo’s motive.

DiBartolo, 42, will stand trial on Oct. 20 on a charge of first-degree premeditated murder.

Patty DiBartolo died of a single gunshot to the head Nov. 2 as she and her husband took a late walk in Lincoln Park on the South Hill.

DiBartolo claims his wife was shot to death by one of two black men who tried to rob the couple near their van.

In documents filed this week, Deputy Prosecutor Larry Steinmetz said Patty DiBartolo died because her husband “wanted her eliminated so he could pursue other sexual and communal interests without the constraint” of his marriage.

Communal interests, in this case, mean proceeds from his wife’s insur ance policy.

Prosecutors said they hope to do something not done in Washington state before. They want the police sketch artist who sat with DiBartolo and worked on the portrait of the alleged killer to testify as an expert.

The artist - whose identity wasn’t revealed - later told officers that DiBartolo didn’t behave like someone “who had been the victim of a crime,” the document states.

Steinmetz’s document also said Patty DiBartolo was prepared to move out of her home and file for divorce after an 18-year marriage.

“DiBartolo knew that if he divorced the victim, he would have to pay $1,200 a month child support, more than half his monthly income,” Steinmetz wrote.

The document also says that DiBartolo’s girlfriend, Christine Ritchie, will testify that she had sex with him on the day of his wife’s funeral.

She will also testify that DiBartolo later planned to have his vasectomy reversed so they could marry and have children, according to the document.

Before Steinmetz filed the document, DiBartolo’s defense attorney, Maryann Moreno, had submitted her own pretrial motion, asking the court to order prosecutors to reveal their theory of the crime.

Moreno said she had received 4,000 pages of pretrial reports and investigation summaries. But none offered a summary of the state’s expected statement of motive.

Without such a statement, Moreno wrote that she would not be able to prepare a thorough defense.

Prosecutors don’t have to give jurors a clear motive during trial, said Steinmetz. State law only requires that a jury be convinced of the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

But defense attorneys say that not giving a jury a coherent reason behind a serious crime raises questions that can hurt the prosecution.

In her motion, Moreno also asked that the trial be moved to another city because of excessive media attention. She said TV and newspaper stories make it difficult to find unprejudiced jurors.

Spokane County Superior Court judges, traditionally, don’t grant a change of venue request until after trying to seat a jury.

Judge Neal Q. Rielly will review the change of venue request and other motions during pretrial hearings Oct. 6 and 7. Jury selection is expected to last a week.

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