Habeas Lawyers Say Horowitz May Be 'True Perpetrator' in Wife's Killing

[Cynthia Foster]

Lawyers representing the man convicted of killing the wife of prominent defense attorney and TV pundit Daniel Horowitz six years ago all but accused Horowitz of the crime Tuesday.

Katherine Hallinan, a niece of former San Francisco DA Terrence Hallinan, and Sara Zalkin, both of Tony Serra’s Pier 5 Law Offices, filed a habeas petition last week on behalf of Scott Dyleski, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murdering Pamela Vitale at the couple's East Bay home. Dyleski was 16 at the time.

The petition includes the commonplace claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, but in publicizing it, Dyleski's new lawyers promised "compelling evidence indicating that Mr. Horowitz may have been the true perpetrator."

Reached Tuesday, Horowitz said the statements were "sanctionable," and said the petition is an attempt by Zalkin to "get famous." "They actually invented fake evidence that never existed in this case and then told the press that it exists somewhere, but it doesn’t," he said.

According to Zalkin, Dyleski received ineffective counsel from his public defender, Ellen Leonida, and was prosecuted by a team that “consistently misrepresented the evidence."

Zalkin said, among other things, that there's a four-hour hole in Horowitz' alibi, that Vitale's sister told police Vitale was fearful of telling Horowitz about cost overruns on the construction of their home and that police may have mishandled forensic evidence. “It’s hard for me to even make a statement about this case, because there’s so much. It’s hard to know where to begin,” said Zalkin. "We’re still doing our own investigation.”

When asked if she was worried about slandering Horowitz, Zalkin hesitated. “It’s not something we feel good about doing,” she said.

Horowitz says the petition won’t be granted. “It’s amateur-level work.” He said Leonida had given Dyleski “fair” and “ethical” representation.

Zalkin and Hallinan say Leonida is cooperating with them on the ineffective assistance claim, though she hasn't yet issued a declaration about her work on the matter.

Comments

[CD Montana]

Zalkin and Hallinan say Leonida is cooperating with them on the ineffective assistance claim
*****
say what?

"Yup, you're right, I was incompetent. When do I sign the Declaration?"

[For Scott]

I think there is a lot more to this than was revealed in the press conference. I do not believe Horowitz's alibi for the morning was ever substantiated either. That is why Zalkin and Hallinan want to check cell phone towers. Horowitz claimed he was with HIS attorney, erh colleage, Bob Massi, at Millies Cafe in Lafayette and called his wife twice around 9:15 to 9:30. It has never been claimed anyone else substantiated those claims so there is another hole from the night before Vitale was murdered until about 11 am the day she was murdered. In fact, the prosecutor claimed Vitale was murdered at 10:12 am based on her computer. Horowitz has no alibi at all from 9:30 until 11 am. He also has no alibi from 2:00 pm until about 5:45 pm that day. Links to the petition and exhibits are at scottdyleski.org

[Concerned]

Here are links to the habeas corpus petition and exhibits. Much more there. There is a lengthy 89 page interview with Pamela Vitale's sister, Tammy Hill, that was conducted before Scott Dyleski was named as a suspect. Tammy has a lot to say about Daniel Horowitz including that he was abusive for years and told Pamela he just wished she would die. There is also an interview of Pamela Vitale's maid who said a couple of months before the murder, Pamela had a black eye. Another person came forward recently, Rick Ortiz, who was the main construction person on the building of the mansion. He claims Horowitz threatened him and forged documents to gain ownership of his vacation home in Red Bluff, CA worth $300,000.

Scott Dyleski Habeas Petition
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0ByC7zSm2LTA3NzBhNmUzMjAtYzc5Mi00NTI3LWI3ZjAtMDQzYzhiOGVjZmNh&hl=en_US

Exhibits Part 1
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0ByC7zSm2LTA3OTZjODk2NzQtZDhkOC00OTI3LWE3MzYtMDIzYjVlYjJiNmU2&hl=en_US

Exhibits Part 2
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0ByC7zSm2LTA3NzY0ZDdhMzEtMjIyZi00MWZhLWFmZTQtOWJhOGE4NDQyOGQ0&hl=en_US

More info on this case here:
http://scottdyleski.org