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Nancy Grace
Schuler Attorney Claims Stroke as Cause of Crash; Dalia Dippolito`s Husband Filed for Divorce
Aired August 10, 2009 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. A young mother with five little children in her mini-van barrels down the wrong way on a packed interstate highway, slamming into another vehicle. Tally, eight dead, one child hanging onto life by a thread. Tragedy, yes. Accident, no. Toxicology reports Mommy high on booze and pot. Daddy admits Mommy`s not afraid of a joint. And tonight, is Daddy under investigation? With one DUI arrest under his own belt, is he covering for Mommy? And tonight, a court battle brewing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight people killed, four of them children, a crash so severe, so explosive, all that`s left, burned wreckage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Diane Schuler had a blood alcohol content of .19 percent. Diane Schuler had approximately six grams of alcohol in her stomach, alcohol that had yet to be metabolized. Toxicology also reveals that Diane Schuler had a high level of THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, in her blood. THC is the active ingredient contained in marijuana.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I go to bed every night knowing my heart is clear. She did not drink. She was not an alcoholic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we have never known Diane to be anything but a responsible and caring mother and aunt, this toxicology report raises more questions than it provides answers for our family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I cannot believe that this current (ph) manifested itself all of a sudden on this one Sunday and that -- and never before did she imbibe liquor in any quantity, never before did she use drugs. We intend to pursue every civil remedy. I believe there`s a strong fragrance of criminality. I want to find out, What did the husband, the brother and other people know?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, a Florida beach beauty marries her dream man and the newlyweds all set to live hap he ever after until death does them part. What the 26-year-old beauty didn`t plan on was the hit-man she hires to murder the new hubby is a cop. That`s right, the cops sting the bride on video, breaking down in hysterical tears, crying over her dead husband just hours after she puts those special final touches on his shooting death. She was the one on the phone with the would-be hit-man, says cops. We have the video.
Tonight, we uncover motive. Not only does she convince hubby to transfer ownership of their quarter-million-dollar town home to her name only, in less than 24 hours, she goes shopping for a hit-man. Bombshell. We learn the identity of the secret informant who alerts police is the wife`s alleged lover. Yes, just six months into the marriage, the thrill is gone. She reportedly gets a lover who saves the husband`s life.
As we go to air, the hubby files for divorce and files a restraining order, afraid she might make another try. And where is the blushing bride tonight? Should she be in jail, enjoying the company of other female inmates like herself? So much in common. So much to talk about. No! She`s free on a low bond, $2,500, at home with her mommy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
DALIA DIPPOLITO, ACCUSED OF TRYING TO HIRE HIT MAN: Please! Please! Please! No! No!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) seemingly breaking down when she encounters police at her Boynton Beach home. Her husband had been killed, or so she thought. The honeymoon was clearly over for Dalia, who police say had contacted a hit-man and offered the man $3,000 to finish Michael off.
DIPPOLITO: I didn`t do anything and I didn`t plot anything!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is possibly a robber (ph) out there. There was an informant. And there might have been some sort of extramarital affair besides just being a friend of that person.
DIPPOLITO: No!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK, Meryl Streep, watch out. There`s an Oscar-winning performance, all the cops standing by. They`ve got the yellow crime scene tape up. They claim they saw -- a witness saw an assailant running from the home. She`s just come from her workout there on the elliptical at L.A. Fitness, and the cops are drinking it all in. Oh, scratching the ear. Yes, we feel bad for you.
DIPPOLITO: Please!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) want to help your husband (INAUDIBLE)
DIPPOLITO: Please! No! No!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: ... Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. A young mother with five little children in her mini-van barrels down the wrong way on a packed interstate, slamming into another vehicle. Tally, eight dead, one child hanging onto life by a thread. Tragedy, yes. Accident, no. Toxicology reports Mommy high on booze and pot. But tonight, authorities hone in on Daddy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The nightmare began when 36-year-old Diane Schuler, with five kids in her mini-van, mistakenly turned onto the Taconic Parkway`s exit ramp.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Schuler was apparently disoriented when she drove onto the Taconic Parkway. She had called her brother saying she didn`t feel right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mini-van reportedly continued in the wrong direction on the parkway for 1.7 miles before it hit this SUV carrying three men, who were killed on impact. The mini-van with the kids then careened into a third car, rolled down this embankment and burst into flames.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Toxicology reports found Schuler was twice over the legal alcohol limit and showed evidence of marijuana use.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s difficult for me to believe that nobody knew the propensity of this woman to drink and have drugs. I think it`s extremely unusual, extremely suspicious. I think that the family should have immediately notified the state police to stop that vehicle -- they knew the license plate -- and not let her proceed. Yet they let her proceed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question is asked, Did she have an alcohol problem? Did you know her to go to bars?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you know her to get drunk and act in...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never saw her drunk since the day I met her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, that`s all well and good for the family attorney, to throw softball questions at the family, his client, the mom`s husband, when there`s nobody there to cross-examine him. Let`s get right down to the real nitty-gritty.
Out to Sophia Hall, reporter with WCBS Newsradio 880. What can you tell me about the possibility authorities are taking a look at Daddy tonight, specifically child protective services?
SOPHIA HALL, WCBS NEWSRADIO 880: CPS is looking at Daniel Schuler. They basically want to know how much he did know that day. Did he supply his wife with booze and pot? And it all is because of the -- I call the miracle of this whole crash, 5-year-old Brian Schuler, the couple`s little boy. He is in the hospital right now. He was critically injured. However, he could get out. He possibly could get out and live back with his father again.
But I am being told by authorities that he could lose custody, the father of this little boy, if it`s found out that he supplied his wife, if he knew she was going to drive drunk and high on marijuana. And also, even before this happened, did Diane Schuler always drink and smoke pot in their household?
GRACE: Out to Rupa Mikkilineni, our producer, standing by in West Babylon, New York, there at the Schuler home. Rupa, welcome. What can you tell me about admissions, whether intentionally or unintentionally made, that Mommy is not afraid of a joint, she`s not afraid of a big, fat doobie?
RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, it`s all very unclear. I`m out here in the neighborhood where this family resides, and I`ve been knocking on doors, speaking with neighbors. They`re being very quiet. However, what I can tell you is that there`s been very little activity in front of the home. And Nancy, the car, the truck owned by Daniel Schuler has been parked here. My understanding is that this little boy is doing better and he may or may not very shortly be released from the hospital.
GRACE: To Michael Amon. Michael, thank you for being with us, reporter with "Newsday." He`s joining us from Melville, New York. It`s a pleasure to have you with us. Michael, what can you tell me about statements made that the mother did use pot socially, that she did smoke pot?
MICHAEL AMON, "NEWSDAY" (via telephone): Well, New York State Police have told me that when they interviewed Daniel Schuler about his wife`s medical condition, they also asked him, Did she do drugs recreationally, did she drink at? And what he told them, according to what they told me later, was that she was a social drinker and she occasionally smoked pot.
Now, I have been able to -- we have spoken to people who have seen her being a social drinker, having a drink here or a drink there. I have not been able to find anyone else who saw her smoking marijuana or knew her to smoke marijuana. However, that`s what her husband told police.
GRACE: To Dr. William Morrone -- everyone, we are taking your calls live -- Dr. Morrone, medical examiner, forensic pathologist and toxicologist. He`s joining us from Madison Heights, Michigan. Welcome. It`s good to see you again, Doctor. Doctor, if her toxicology reports show marijuana in her system, how shortly before this ill-fated trip barrelling down the interstate with a bunch of kids in her car -- how shortly before that trip had she smoken pot -- smoked pot?
DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST, TOXICOLOGIST: It`s very specific. In a general sense, when a doctor tests a patient, they test the marijuana metabolite of chronic users. In the toxicology report, they tested the active THC. So it would have been within 20, 30 minutes to an hour right before she died that she was smoking. It was the active marijuana that was measured and was very high.
GRACE: Back to Sophia Hall with WCBS Newsradio 880. The little boy, Brian Schuler -- do doctors believe he will make it?
HALL: Actually, according to a news conference I want to last week with the father, Daniel Schuler, and his attorney, the father says that he is doing much better, and hopefully, he will be coming home. So that`s the positive news, the miracle of this tragedy, complete tragedy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And with that level of alcohol, it`s approximately 10 drinks are still in her at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Around that level of alcohol, you also start to get what`s called tunnel vision, where your perception is changed so you can`t see peripherally all the time, depending on the tolerance that she has to alcohol.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A 36-year-old mother, Diane Schuler, drove the wrong way for nearly two miles on a New York highway with five children inside her mini-van. They struck an SUV with three adults head on. Eight people were killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were just a really normal family. She was polite to everybody. She was very quiet. And I have to be honest with you, she has had us all in a state of shock.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Toxicology reports show her blood alcohol was .19. And she had marijuana in her system also.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was an Absolut bottle of vodka, 1.75 liters, broken bottle, that was found in the driver`s (ph) passenger`s seat, actually, of the floor. The police are not able to determine if she had consumed the alcohol from that particular bottle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said that she was traveling south in the northbound lanes, and witnesses originally on that highway said that she was actually keeping the car steady for 1.7 miles.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thirty minutes before the crash, Diane called her brother to say she was disoriented and having trouble seeing. He told her to stay put, that he would come and get her. Instead, she kept driving. The brother then called police to alert them about his sister`s call, but they couldn`t locate her in time to prevent the tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is possible that there was some type of medical condition. But again, we are awaiting the autopsy results.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Accidents involving drivers going the wrong way on the parkway are rare. I believe six cellular 911 phone calls that were received, reporting her driving the wrong way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Rupa Mikkilineni, standing by at the Schuler home. What medical conditions could possibly explain this away?
MIKKILINENI: The Schuler attorney has come out and indicated maybe some type of diabetes...
GRACE: Whoa! Uh-uh! Uh-uh!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... with the onset of pregnancy. Of course, her youngest child...
GRACE: That`s gestational diabetes and you only have that when you`re pregnant. Was she pregnant, Rupa?
MIKKILINENI: She was not.
GRACE: Continue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The diabetes -- she also suffered from some type of unidentified lump on her leg and also a tooth abscess.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are all theories put forward by her lawyer.
GRACE: Dr. Morrone...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or by her husband`s lawyer.
GRACE: ... please, throw me a bone. OK, a lump on your leg, an abscessed tooth, then later, one of the statements I believe given by the family attorney is something happened in her brain?
MORRONE: The autopsy from the medical examiner was very specific. It looked for stroke, heart attack and dissecting aneurysm and it was negative on all those counts. And the only thing that would have put her out would have been a stroke. Didn`t happen.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Chris in California. Hi, Chris.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I watch your show all the time. And I have twins who are going to be 18 and just bless you!
GRACE: You know, I could use all the advice you can send me in an e- mail. My mind is open, OK? What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, my question is, if everybody`s so sure that this woman didn`t drink or have a problem with that, does anybody know what had happened, like, the hour or two before she got in that van?
GRACE: Yes, back to you, Sophia Hall with WCBS Newsradio 880. Didn`t she leave around 9:00, 9:30 in the morning for about, I believe, it was either a 90 or 150-mile trip. And now this is four-something hours later. I mean, what did she do during all that time?
HALL: OK, so she left a campground in New York and went to McDonald`s. Now, according to the employees at McDonald`s, she seemed fine, no problems. The kids seemed fine. She supposedly got back in her mini-van -- actually, it was her brother`s mini-van -- and started driving.
Then there were four phone calls made. One at 11:30. She talked to her brother, said, You know what? Hit a little bit of traffic. But your girls -- who were in the car, three of them -- will be home in time for their afternoon activities. Another phone call at noon. Don`t know exactly who she talked to. That hasn`t been released yet. Apparently, it was a relative, an unidentified relative.
Then at 1:00 o`clock, she talked to her brother again. And this is where everything went into action sort of here because the brother said, Are you OK? She said, No, you know, I`m feeling sick. You know, Things are spinning around. The brother said, Look, stay where you are. At the time, she was at a pull-off area near the Tappan Zee Bridge. Apparently, she didn`t stay there. For whatever reason, we don`t know. And we also don`t know how her cell phone stayed there on the pull-off area. In fact, investigators made that discovery a couple days later, after this crash.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Victims` rights advocate out of California jurisdiction Gloria Allred, high-profile defense attorney, author of "How Can You Defend Those People?" Mickey Sherman out of New York and defense attorney Stacy Schneider (ph), also out of New York.
Come on, Mickey. I was at McDonald`s yesterday morning. I had been up since about 4:00 AM with the twins. They probably thought I was drunk. I could hardly see. I was trying to order us a little hash browns. And then I mistook them for a Burger King and said some apple fries. Anyway, long story short, how much contact do you really have with the clerk at the counter of McDonald`s?
MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I agree with...
GRACE: Not much.
SHERMAN: Very little. But by the same token, they obviously made some observations and they didn`t find that this woman was out of her mind drunk, which is what...
GRACE: OK...
SHERMAN: ... the evidence would suggest. But you know what?
GRACE: Mickey, probably knowing you and your high-living lifestyle, I bet you can`t remember the last time you were in a McDonald`s. What about it, Gloria Allred?
SHERMAN: Yesterday!
GRACE: Yes. Gloria?
GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIMS` RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Yes, I -- yes. Yes. Well, I`ve been to McDonald`s, and I would doubt that the interaction between the clerk and the customer is long enough for the clerk to make that observation, or maybe they don`t even have the expertise to make an evaluation.
GRACE: Stacy Schneider, if he knew that she had had pot shortly before this trip, is he liable?
STACY SCHNEIDER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You mean the husband, Nancy?
GRACE: Yes.
SCHNEIDER: No. He`s not criminally liable. The only thing that they could get him on is if he let his children get into the car with her when she was high or intoxicated. Then he could be charged with reckless endangerment. And that could affect his child custody rights, as well. But you have to know.
GRACE: Gloria Allred, Mickey Sherman, Stacy Schneider. We`re all taking your calls.
Are you guilty of being our show`s number one fan? Plead your case. Send us your story as to why you are that fan. We`re looking for stand-out stories, and if your e-mail or iReport makes the air, you win an autographed copy of my new novel, "The 11th Victim" -- it comes out tomorrow -- and a chance to fly to New York and come to the show live here on the set. Get busy with those videocams and e-mails. Go to CNN.com/nancygrace. And thank you, friend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I go to bed every night knowing my heart is clear. She did not drink. She is not an alcoholic. (INAUDIBLE) She is not an alcoholic. And my heart is rested every night when I go to bed. Something medically had to have happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Something medically happened, says her husband. Let`s go straight out to Michael Amon, reporter with "Newsday," who at this minute is breaking news with a report that the family, the woman`s family, is investigating a stroke-like condition that is not revealed in autopsies. It`s called TIA, transient ischemic attack. What is it? And how do you know they`re investigating that, Michael?
AMON: Well, that is what the attorney for the Schuler family told me today. He said that they`re looking into TIA as a possible explanation. TIA is like a stroke in that it is an interruption of blood flow into the brain, but it does not cause permanent damage. It only lasts a few minutes. It can last at the most up to an hour. But it doesn`t leave any permanent damage and therefore doesn`t show up in an autopsy. It also does not explain why there would be all kinds of alcohol and drugs in her blood, either.
GRACE: Well, good point. Laura Dean-Mooney, MADD national president, what do you make of this defense, transient ischemic attack? How does that jibe with the bottle of Absolut vodka found at her feet?
LAURA DEAN-MOONEY, MADD NATIONAL PRESIDENT: Well, I`m certainly not a doctor, but I don`t think that ethanol, alcohol, shows up in a TIA. You know, this problem is just a great example of women driving drunk and how increasing that is and driving with their kids in their car, like Diane Schuler did. It`s a form of child abuse.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The horrific highway crash that took the lives of 36- year-old Diane Schuler, her 2-year-old daughter Aaron, and her nieces, 8- year-old Emma Hance, 7-year-old Alison and 5-year-old Kate.
DANIEL SCHULER, DIANE SCHULER`S HUSBAND: She was fine. Had a cup of coffee in the morning. We packed the cars up like we always do. And we headed out. Just like every other weekend or every weekend we go up there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Daniel Schuler defended his wife disputing a recent medical examiner`s report that Diane Schuler was drunk and high when she drove into oncoming traffic on a New York highway.
SCHULER: She is not an alcoholic. And my heart is rested every night when I go to bed. Something medically had to have happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her minivan collided head on with another car. New Yorker Guy Bastardi was killed along with his 81-year-old father and a 74- year-old friend. The Bastardi family`s tragedy made worse by the possibility Schuler may have been intoxicated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you put five children in a car when you`re a mother and you`re drunk? How do you do that? It`s incomprehensible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think anyone that knows contributed to this should be brought to justice. In one way or another.
SCHULER: It`s sad. Very sad. Upset. I lost my daughter. I lost my wife. All I have is my son.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you angry at your wife?
SCHULER: No, I am not angry at her.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Take us through that morning.
SCHULER: It was normal. She was fine. We had a cup of coffee in the morning. We packed the cars up like we always do. And we headed out. Just -- just like every other weekend or every weekend we go up there.
DOMINIC BARBARA, SCHULER FAMILY ATTORNEY: My investigators have already interviewed people at the campsite. No one saw her that morning with alcohol, drunk, acting strange.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The opposite.
BARBARA: The opposite. She was happy, talking to people, gave a kiss good-bye to the owner of the camp. And waved and -- that person smelled her breath. There was definitely no alcohol when she left that campsite.
Let`s start off with the questions asked, did she have an alcohol problem? Did you know her to go to bars?
SCHULER: Absolutely not.
BARBARA: Did you know her to get drunk and act in.
SCHULER: I never saw her drunk since the day I met her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: We are taking your calls live and tonight we learned that authorities are focusing on the daddy. Did he know his wife was drunk and high on marijuana in the car with all of these children? A crash that claims the lives of eight. One child left clinging to life in the hospital tonight, Brian Schuler.
Straight back out to the lines. Denise, Oklahoma. Hi, Denise.
DENISE, CALLER FROM OKLAHOMA: Hey, Nancy. I would look to thank you for being an advocate for victims. I`ve been the victim of a violent crime. And I think you`re an angel for doing what you do for us.
GRACE: I am no angel. But I am grateful for your kind words. Thank you.
DENISE: Well, God bless you. But I`d like to say that my husband and I have been married 12 years. We know each other like a book. That father, that husband, knew what his wife was doing. And how he could let those children get in that vehicle is just unbelievable.
Also if it is in dispute from the husband about her marijuana use, or her alcoholic use, will they test the hair to see how far back she has been smoking marijuana?
GRACE: Good question, Denise in Oklahoma. Let me tell you something. My husband is known to occasionally enjoy a cigar. And I said, listen, the doctors told me in intensive care when these children were born, they can`t be around anybody that has even got second-hand smoke on them because it is linked to SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome.
It is absolutely not OK. I don`t want to be the big party-pooper. But it`s not OK. Not, not for a long time. Much less pot and booze. Are you kidding me?
What about it, Dr. Morrone, how long can you trace pot in hair?
DR. WILLIAM R. MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER; FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST, TOXICOLOGIST: You can go back a number of months. The body tends to hold tetrahydrocannabinol for about 45 days and release it slowly. And a chronic user you can test back a number of months.
GRACE: To Sherri in Washington state. Hi, dear, what`s your question?
SHERRI, CALLER FROM WASHINGTON: Hi, my question is, I keep hearing the results of the toxicology report. But what does the coroner`s autopsy say about the condition of the liver? If she had a chronic alcohol problem shouldn`t there be some evidence there?
GRACE: Excellent question. What do we know, if anything, Michael Amon?
MIKE AMON, REPORTER, NEWSDAY, COVERING STORY (via phone): I actually asked that question of the district attorney`s office today. And they told me that -- they, there was no sign that they know of of liver damage. You know any signs of chronic alcohol abuse in the autopsy report.
I also called the ME`s office and they did not get back to me. However, right now authorities are saying there is no sign of that. No signs of any underlying medical conditions.
GRACE: What about it, Dr. Morrone? How likely is it even with some one that is an alcoholic for it to show up in your liver?
MORRONE: You know it depends on their genetics. I have seen livers in young people and they`re firm and hard like a rock and they`re yellow that`s very alcoholic. And I have seen beefy red livers and it just -- it depends.
GRACE: To Dr. Janet Taylor, medical doctor, psychiatrist. Dr. Taylor, as always it`s wonderful to have you. What do you believe is going through the father`s mind? Now he is dealing with a horrible, horrible loss. But at the same time, he is out there claiming he knows nothing about the booze, nothing about smoking pot before she gets behind the wheel with his children in the car?
DR. JANET TAYLOR, PSYCHIATRIST: Well, I hope that he is thinking about the quality of their relationship and looking at the possibility maybe she was depressed. Was she bipolar? Something he is missing in the sense that it`s not just medical. But what underlying.
GRACE: But what does that have to do with Absolut vodka? Depressed?
TAYLOR: Well, because if she`s depressed and she -- you know, one way people cope is to drink. And so -- have we not looking at the possibility was this a suicide attempt? Was she trying to kill herself and unfortunately these kids?
Because the fact is we need to look at the underlying psychological problems and if there is something that they`re missing. She had a child two years ago. Did she have postpartum depression?
GRACE: To John Lucich, former investigator, president of the High Tech Crime Network. John, thank you for being with us. How can Child Protective Services, CPS, conduct this investigation? Is it akin to a criminal investigation?
JOHN LUCICH, FMR. CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR, PRESIDENT OF THE HIGH TECH CRIME NETWORK: Absolutely. In fact one of the things they have to do is they have to take a look at the father because he`s the one who`s going to get a hold of his son one day when this is all over.
There is no way in 15 minutes or a half-hour that you can be a .19 alcohol blood content. I am -- I am a former certified breathalyzer operator, I had to go through all the training. And I can tell you this, it would take several hours to get where she was. And it`s a synergistic effect with the alcohol and drugs.
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Very quickly, I want to tell you about the story of a newlywed, the bride orders a hit on hubby. What she didn`t plan on is the hit man is -- ruh-roh, a cop. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dalia Dippolito was only married to her husband Michael for six months before she allegedly wanted him dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motive best we can tell appears to be money. That is at least what his attorneys are alleging that she had done this all to obtain his condo. And the day before she met with the -- what she thought was the hit man. She convinced him to transfer the deed to the condo into -- solely to her name.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to police, a male friend of hers, that`s who tipped them off. They say when Dalia went to hire a hit man they had an undercover officer ready to play the part.
Police say she had an alibi and that she gave out photos of her husband, his schedule, the layout of their apartment. They say that they staged a murder scene at the home. And when she got there, they told her the news that her husband was dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to our chief editorial producer, Ellie Jostad. Ellie, what can you tell me about hubby finally filing for divorce and for protective order?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Right, Nancy. Last Friday Michael Dippolito filed for divorce from his wife. In his petition, he lists that the wife allegedly hired a hit man to kill him.
Also, just before air he got a restraining order. His lawyer says that Michael Dippolito fears for his life. He doesn`t know what she`s capable of. And he wanted to make sure there`s an order keeping her away from him.
GRACE: And she`s out on bond living with mommy. She`s probably propped up on the sofa having chicken soup right now.
Very quickly to tonight`s "Safety Tips." PS, we`re taking your calls.
Teens getting ready for back to school and back behind the wheel. Rules of the road for teen drivers. Talk to your teen about safety. Set ground rules. They`ve got to follow before handing over the keys. And hey, put the rules in writing.
Texting, cell phones, iPods while driving, major distraction. It causes fatal crashes. Always wear seatbelts. Discourage speeding. Make your teen responsible for tickets. Drinking and driving, a major no-no. Get a designated driver in place or someone your teen can call for a ride home.
For more information, please go to KidsHealth.org.
ANNOUNCER: "Nancy Safety Tips,` brought to you by.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAEL DIPPOLITO, DALIA DIPPOLITO`S HUSBAND: If it`s 10:50, I should have been dead at like 9:00.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Detectives knocked on his door. They told him his wife was trying to kill him and staged a crime scene. His wife sobbed uncontrollably when she arrived. Michael confronted her at the police station.
CHIEF MATTHEW IMMLER, BOYNTON BEACH POLICE DEPT., ON THE CASE: We actually didn`t break it to her. What we did is when we moved her from the room that she was in, back to the cellblock, or our booking area, the husband was standing in the detective room which is kind of a wide-open space. And as she exited the room, she could see him standing there very much alive.
GRACE: Chief, what did she do?
IMMLER: She was, to say the least, very surprised.
GRACE: Did she really start crying for real?
IMMLER: No. She was pretty much, at that point, at a loss for words.
GRACE: She is like ruh-oh.
IMMLER: That`s it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: They`re breaking the news to her. Of course, all the cops know she set the thing up according to them. Now according to this cop that she`s trying to hug, he barely ot the words out, your husband -- and she started wailing. Thought she anticipated the bad news.
Another cop says no matter how much she wailed, she couldn`t squeeze out a tear. I love the guy biting his fingernail and looking around. And he goes scratch the ear.
(LAUGHTER)
Straight out to Hugh Nolan, investigative reporter. Hugh, what can you tell us? What`s the latest?
HUGH NOLAN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, things certainly have been moving fast. Maybe that befits a situation where they went from "I do" to reported alleged hit in six months. Of course the video we were just watching, that sting operation took place only last Wednesday. That was the day of Dalia Dippolito`s arrest.
By Thursday she was out on $25,000 bond and an attorney had filed an action to try to recover from her the property that she had persuaded her husband to sign over to her just days before.
Friday, of course, a petition for dissolution of marriage is filed, again, on behalf of Michael. And here we are Monday and we a new petition for an injunction against domestic violence that has been filed, again, on Michael`s behalf.
GRACE: To John Sabatino, friend of the intended victim, Michael Dippolito, the new hubby. John, what can you tell me about the husband filing this protective order? I mean she is out on bond.
JOHN SABATINO, FRIEND OF MICHAEL DIPPOLITO (via phone): Hi, Nancy. How you doing?
GRACE: Repeat?
SABATINO: Hello.
GRACE: Hi, dear. Your friend filed an order of protection. Is he concerned she may try again?
SABATINO: Absolutely.
GRACE: Why?
SABATINO: Absolutely. Well, I mean, we`re all in shock that she`s put out on bail. Number one. Somebody like this should really be behind bars.
GRACE: And there you see her, walking along. She was a workout enthusiast, let me say, and planned her alibi according to police to be at the L.A. fitness center, probably bopping along on the elliptical, listening to a little iPod action at the very time her husband was supposed to be murdered.
Back to you, Ellie, what more have we learned of them as a couple how they met, the whole shebang?
JOSTAD: Well, this morning on the "Today Show," Michael Dippolito said that that morning that his life -- his wife went to the gym, she even offered to stop and pick up Starbucks for him on the way back.
Now they actually met at a.
GRACE: OK, wait, wait, wait.
JOSTAD: Yes.
GRACE: She offered to bring back Starbucks.
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: OK. Pause. Mickey Sherman, Stacy Schneider, Gloria Allred. So, Mickey, what did she do, put extra raisins in his cereal for him that morning? What was his last meal? I mean how do you go about this? You`re planning your husband`s shooting death in the head.
What do you do? You still sleep with him the night before just to kind of a send-off? Fix a special gourmet meal for breakfast or is it just like see you? Hey, I`ll bring you that coffee when I get home.
MICKEY SHERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "HOW CAN YOU DEFEND THOSE PEOPLE?": That Mocha-choco, I`m going to kill you.
GRACE: Evidence, evidence. Did she stop at Starbucks or did she know that he wasn`t going to be alive when she`s gotten home from Starbucks?
SHERMAN: Well, she was hoping. It cost her, you know, a few bucks for have it refilled.
GRACE: Another 5 bucks for a cup of coffee.
SHERMAN: But, you know, how come we don`t get to see the film of him telling him that she`s alive? In Florida they release every other video that`s made. Why don`t we get to see the good stuff.
GRACE: That`s all you`ve got to say? Why didn`t they film him? OK, Gloria, have at it.
GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIM`S RIGHTS ATTORNEY, CHILD ADVOCATE: Well, all I can tell you is, she`s not going to need coffee. She`s gotten the wake-up call from the police that what it appears that she was trying to do, didn`t work. And now she is in very, very deep trouble.
And this is -- apparently the conversations were recorded. Conversations she had with the confidential informant. Also, the conversation she had with the person that she thought was going to do the hit, is recorded. So she`s going to have a very, very difficult time if she decides to not only plead not guilty but go to trial.
GRACE: What I`m interested in is why Judge Boris is giving her such a low bond.
We`ll be back with Stacy Schneider. When we get back, taking your calls. But right now a special thank you to "Good Morning America" and "GMA" host, Robin Roberts, for having me on today. It was this morning, not only about the twins, but my first novel. It comes out tomorrow morning, August 11th, "The Eleventh Victim."
I wanted to get a shot of her but my head only came up to her knee. Either she`s a professional basketball player, or professional model or both.
And also thank you. You could show that shot again, Rosie, to my friend and competitor, Bill O`Reilly, over at F-O-X network. We don`t say it out loud here. For interviewing me for his show tonight about not only our show here on HLN and the cases we cover, but the book, "Eleventh Victim."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: There is a brand new book out by a best-seller. The message of the book is that justice, the criminal justice system is not pristine. It`s kind of like -- wrestling with a pig. You get dirty and the pig likes it.
I think what led me to start writing the book was I suddenly only had one job for the first time since I was about 15. And I was really, really missing the courtroom. I think that this was cathartic when I wrote it since at the time that I began working on it, I still had prosecution running through my blood.
The book that I started is very different from the book that I ended up with. I`ve been greatly influenced by a lot of wonderful, wonderful like, dare I even mention, Agatha Christie. As I wrote and the characters took on their own life.
I would never state that this book is anything but fiction. However, there may be some resemblances to episodes that happened in the courtroom when I was a prosecutor and to -- comparisons to certain judges that may have existed during that time.
Between the time I started writing this book, I went to NYU and got a masters degree in criminal and constitutional law. I wrote another book. I got married, got pregnant, had twins. A lot happened while I was writing this book. Even at the beginning, I knew who did it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Straight out to Ellie Jostad. Ellie, before I go back to Stacy Schneider, what more can you tell me about the developments of today?
JOSTAD: Well, Nancy, we`ve learned a little bit more about how that arrest went down. Apparently, they -- initially the cops were going to stage some sort of crime scene where they would make up the husband to look like he was dead, take a picture of it, show it to her. They scrapped that plan and instead staged this fake crime scene.
So we know that they had planned this pretty elaborately. They followed her to the gym and then staged that crime scene.
GRACE: And what happened when they opened up that -- they opened up that the door to the police station and she saw him alive, fit as a fiddle in the next room?
JOSTAD: Right. Well, apparently, when she saw him, she said, oh, my gosh, come here, come here. And he just looked at her and said, you`re not going to fix this one.
GRACE: OK. Stacy, what`s your defense?
STACY SCHNEIDER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Nancy, plea bargain. I mean this woman, the defense is so overwhelming.
GRACE: Look, Stacy.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I know what you`re going to say, it`s the lover`s fault.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHNEIDER: I have a defense that we attorneys would use if the circumstances were a little bit different. Most of the times, these hired hit men are convicted felons, that someone hooks up with and generally we can pick them apart on the stands, because they have tons of credibility issues. But in this case, this woman makes a deal with an undercover police officer, and it`s a done deal.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I think she`s going to try to claim that the informant, her alleged lover, that it was his idea and that he pushed her to do it. They`re going to be pointing the fingers.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHNEIDER: It`s a point the fingers defense, absolutely, if she can even convince anyone of her innocence, the motive here is so strong.
GRACE: OK, everybody, let`s stop and remember Army Sergeant Lance Craig Springer II, 23, Fort Worth, Texas, killed, Iraq. Awarded the Combat Medic Badge, a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Proud to be an airborne combat medic. Fellow soldiers called him Doc Springer. He never lost a patient.
Loved saxophone, off-roading, Alaska, video games, and handing out toys and crayons to Iraqi kids. Leaves behind parents, Lance and Ivanna (ph), sister, Michelle, brother, Christopher.
Lance Craig Springer, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you, and a special good night from Georgia friends of the show, Jordan and Immat. Jordan, a summer intern for veteran defense lawyer and show regular, Atlanta lawyer, Renee Rockwell, and he`s setting off to Harold University to study criminal justice.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern, and until then, good night, friend.
END
