Posted on 10/17/2005 11:44:12 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
MARTINEZ, Calif. (AP) - A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the murder case against a woman defended by prominent lawyer Daniel Horowitz, whose wife was slain over the weekend.
Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Laurel F. Brady cited excessive news coverage of the homicide of Pamela Vitale when she dismissed jurors in the case of Susan Polk, who is accused of stabbing her therapist husband.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it would have been hard to miss, despite my admonitions," Brady told the jury. "I have reached the conclusion at this juncture that it is not possible to continue the trial."
Horowitz was not in court. Polk, who claims self-defense, was crying as the judge postponed her case off to Dec. 2.
IIRC I read the lawyer's home was in a remote area - but they lived in a trailer while their "dream home" was being built.
Maybe there were construction/day workers on the property?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/17/VITALE.TMP&feed=rss.news
Former owner living on the property and the couple are suing him? Neighbor, not a bank, lends $300,000 to the couple to build their home? Odd...
They just had this on Fox, heli shots of the property.
They lived in a doublewide at the construction site of the big house.,,, from appearances, the main house is well on its way construction wise..
By the size of the new house, they may have had quite a few folks working out there. This may be solved rather quickly or lets hope so.
B
RE
AKI
NG
NEWS!!!
Someone who was a caretaker has been arrested!!!
Thanks!
We'll see what develops..
Press Conference at 2 PM PT per Shep
Nope, not a remote area. It is a rich area and the house is being built up in the hills. It is in Lafayete, CA which is just over the hills from Oakland.
Maybe not so odd. People often get construction loans from friends, family, or private investors especially on extended construction projects, which banks have strict rules about and private investors can be more relaxed about in terms of completion time. From the looks of the Horowitz house, I'd bet that $300,000 didn't cover the entire construction cost. Someone else may be involved in financing it.
I wonder whether Horowitz owns the land outright and how much he might still owe Lynch, who still lives on the property in a camper ....what's their lawsuit about?
What do you know about this case?
Is the husband a suspect?
No arrest was made as earlier reported.
autopsy says blunt team was cause of death,,
no one has been ruled in or out as suspect so far, per shep.
Copying from the Court TV forum, press conference just ended by CoCoCo sheriff's dept:
~~~~~~~
Press Conf
Autopsy lasted 3 1/2 hrs
Case of death...blunt force trauma
Crime is listed as Homocide
No one is under arrest
Wide open investigation
Inteviewed dozens of ppl
No one in custody
Interviewed DH ..very cooperative
Interviewed Joseph Lynch..very cooperative
Talked to neighbors
Not focuse on anyone or ruled anyone out
CSI still ay scene taking evidence
~~~~~~~~~~
1-866-846-3592 Is the tip line number.
Thank you. I just found the other thread and bumped it up.
The Matejiceks owned some of the land that Horowitz and Vitale wanted to consolidate and build on, then have some buffer space around. If you've seen the helicopter shots, the actual house site is on top of a hill. The driveway is a mile long, mostly uphill.
Joseph W. Lynch owned a small portion--4 acres, I believe--of the parcel they wanted to put together. The Matejiceks owned a larger portion, although I haven't seen exactly how much. Daniel already owned the primary house site portion, from what I gather.
Anyway, when he and Pam wanted to buy the adjacent Matejicek portion, the M's sold it to them but held the deed and financed the mortgage. I'm going to guess it was just for a partial on that, since it was just $300,000 and it was just last year. They also assigned rents for the property.
Pamela had had a residence at 1901 Hunsaker Canyon Rd. for 10 years, although I haven't located a deed for the actual sale date on it--that is just a time period in a database. Daniel was also listed with that address, but no time period on it. This is the address given for the crime scene.
Daniel also had a listing at 1571 Hunsaker Canyon for the past year--this is probably the June 2004 transaction with Joseph W. Lynch. And the Matejiceks owned the property at 1812 Hunsaker Canyon Rd., which would be their September 2004 transaction with Horowitz and Vitale.
It is a one-lane road, which pretty much runs into their driveway, so addresses on odd or even sides seem to be adjoining properties.
Thanks
I had blunt team.. oy.. as a typo above your post. :-)
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