Posted on 10/16/2005 6:06:30 AM PDT by I_saw_the_light
LAFAYETTE, Calif. - The wife of prominent defense attorney and TV legal analyst Daniel Horowitz was found slain in the couple's San Francisco area home, police said.
Horowitz called 911 Saturday evening to report that the body of his wife, 52-year-old Pamela Vitale, was in the entryway of their home in an upscale neighborhood, police said.
The woman's identity has not been confirmed by authorities, but "based on what we know, it's believed to be the wife of Daniel Horowitz," said Contra Costa Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee.
Authorities would not release details of how the victim died, but said it was a homicide. They had no suspects.
"We're talking to several individuals," Lee said. "Nobody's in custody right now."
A call to the Horowitz' home from The Associated Press went unanswered late Saturday.
"I can't talk," Horowitz told the San Francisco Chronicle when reached on his cell phone Saturday. "I can't. It's beyond words."
Horowitz is a regular television legal commentator who appears frequently on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News and was a frequent commentator during the Laci Peterson murder trial.
Horowitz is currently defending Susan Polk, accused of murder in the 2002 stabbing death of her husband in the poolhouse of their Orinda home. The trial had been scheduled to continue next week.
Vitale, a former high-tech marketing executive, worked at her husband's law practice, creating and managing databases.
I'm so sorry for this person. Prayers up!
Mob hit.
Not to worry...Greta will cover this nonstop for the next 3 months.
Only if the body is missing.
The home where she died sits at the end of a mile-long driveway near the top of the hills between Lafayette and Walnut Creek in a neighborhood with large, private estates.
There are some beautiful homes in this part of Contra Costa County, many at the end of long , winding , private roads. Some folks will park on these roads and "party " ( drink and or do dope ) as they think that since they're out in a out of the way area, it's " safe " to do so.
I'm guessing she happened to have a chance encounter with some scumbags.
Step #1) Check to see if either he or his dead wife were contemplating divorce.Also,check to see if he had a girlfriend.
As is often said in the police biz when you're investigating a woman's murder..."before you look at the outlaws be sure to look at the in-laws".
"I can't talk," Horowitz told the San Francisco Chronicle when reached on his cell phone Saturday. "I can't. It's beyond words."
I'm so sick of seeing these lines in articles... why does the media insist on asking a grieving husband for a comment?
I sense a Dominick Dunne novel in the future.
The only way I could possibly be a defense lawyer is if I,like Perry Mason,was certain that each and every one of my clients were innocent.
The only way that the Johnnie Cochrane,for example,was able to look at himself in the mirror was that he,like at least several of his famous clients,had no conscience.
Perhaps it's because there's a distinct possibility that the husband was the killer.
That's quite a tautology there ;-)
"I wonder if defense attorneys are able to continue with their practice after something like this happens."
Not a biggie for them. Their living is DEFENDING murders. Maybe this is what it takes for them to WAKE UP and not defend them with a bunch of psycho babble lies and distortions.
The rule of thumb when a married woman is murdered is that the husband did it, or arranged for it.
We always hear about the ones that got away, but rarely the ones rightfully acquited because of the job of a good defense attorney.
I want a defense attorney to earn his pay. One day it could be any one of us proclaiming innocence with the world thinking we must be guilty of something.
Considering the alternative, I'd rather a few go free or a few beat the system.
Perhaps, but even in cases where there's no foul play involved, the media insists on trying to reach the family of the victim for comment, and then reports no answer to their home phone like we're supposed to be surprised.
I'm surprised Greta is not back in Aruba with all the "latest possible arrest" . Iwonder if this murder had anything to do with the case he is defending
"The only way I could possibly be a defense lawyer is if I,like Perry Mason,was certain that each and every one of my clients were innocent."
My husband is a defense lawyer. His attitude is that would decline to defend someone if he knew that they were guilty, but I don't think that he would have to be 100% sure that they were innocent. Due to the cost involved, he would be disinclined to involve his small firm in a murder trial.
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