Dalia Dippolito's lawyer make second request for new trial in Boynton Beach murder for hire case

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Mohamed Shihadeh was a central figure in the arrest of Dalia Dippolito. Her former lover turned her into police, wore a wire, and kept up the ruse that he would help her kill her husband of six months.

Shihadeh told the lawyers he would be in the Middle East and unavailable to testify at the time of her trial, begun in late April, so they videotaped his testimony which jurors heard instead.

Then Shihadeh got arrested for DUI in Boca Raton May 5 while the trial was underway.

At trial – which ended in Dippolito's conviction – Shihadeh's arrest did not come up as a legal issue. But now it has.

Defense attorney Michael Salnick filed Thursday a request asking for a new trial questioning prosecutors' knowledge of Shihadeh's whereabouts.

"To deprive the Defendant of the right to a face-to-face confrontation with one of, if not the most important witness in this case, is fundamental error of the most grievous kind and should be grounds for a new trial," Salnick wrote.

susan_spencer_wendel@pbpost.com