Fla. woman Dalia Dippolito sought hit man to kill husband, gets 20 years in prison
(CBS/WFOR) PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. - Dalia Dippolito, the South Florida woman convicted of trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday.
Prosecutors had asked that Judge Jeffrey Colbath sentence the 28-year-old Dippolito to the maximum of 30 years in prison.
After listening to arguments from both sides and allowing Dippolito's husband to make a statement, the judge sentenced her to 20 years in prison minus time served, reports CBS affiliate WFOR.
A jury found Dippolito guilty last month of solicitation to commit first-degree murder, according to WFOR.
Prosecutors say she plotted to kill her husband Michael Dippolito in August 2009. She was seen on police surveillance telling the hit man, who was really a Boynton Beach undercover police officer, that she was sure she wanted Michael Dippolito dead, according to the station.
She offered $3,000 for the deed, police said.
Dippolito's defense was that she was acting for a reality TV show.
But prosecutors said the reality TV defense was blown when Dippolito did not respond properly when police set up a fake crime scene, telling her that her husband was dead.
"If this was a reality show stunt, when she was told by Sgt. Ramesy that her husband had been killed her real reaction would have been , 'what do you mean how was he killed? This was a stunt! He can't really be dead!" Parker said, WFOR reports.
According to court records, Dippolito had tried twice before tried to kill her husband. One time, she allegedly tried to hire a Riviera Beach man to kill her husband but he later reneged. She also allegedly spiked her husband's drink with odorless anti-freeze. He reportedly spit out the drink after commenting that it tasted like gasoline.