From: Solitairea1
Date: October 30, 2005
Time: 03:04 AM
Tue.Oct.18, 2005 Judge declares Polk case mistrial after defense attorney's wife killed By Bruce Gerstman CONTRA COSTA TIMES MARTINEZ - Attorney Daniel Horowitz said Monday that his wife's slaying has left him unsure whether he will continue working on his current case, defending Susan Polk against a charge of killing her husband. "I don't know," Horowitz said. "I don't know if I'm alive. I don't know if I'm in hell," he said by phone. Pamela Vitale, 52, was killed Saturday in the home she and Horowitz shared on the Lafayette property where they were completing a mansion. Horowitz - who has defended many homicide defendants, including one involved in Lafayette's last murder - discovered her body and called deputies about 6 p.m. Vitale had tickets for that evening's performance by the Kirov Ballet in Berkeley, one of her favorite activities, Horowitz said. She planned to attend with a friend. He described her as brilliant and selfless. "I just want to be buried next to her when it's my turn," Horowitz said. "It should have been my turn." Tuesday morning, Polk, 47, cried in court as Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Laurel Brady declared a mistrial in her case. The trial opened Oct. 11 for the Orinda woman charged with murder in the 2002 stabbing death of her husband. It was expected to last at least one month. Brady said jurors could not have missed the media coverage of Vitale's slaying and its occurrence in the life of a defense attorney. "I have reached the conclusion that at this juncture, it is not possible to continue the trial," Brady told jurors before thanking and excusing them. The sudden halt came after judges had postponed Polk's trial several times as she has fired three attorneys and won the right to represent herself. At her request, the county appointed Horowitz to take over the case in August. The defense requested a mistrial because there is too much of an overlap among the sheriff's investigators involved in the Polk case and now the Vitale case, said Horowitz's co-counsel Ivan Golde, who was surrounded by a dozen microphones. Golde said that based on the first week of trial, "We were doing well in there. We were winning this case. I hope we can pick up where we left off." Prosecutor Tom O'Connor did not return calls from the Times. Jurors left the courtroom feeling they did not have enough time to lean to one side or another, said juror Mark Zigler, a Concord resident. "The prosecution was the only one who had the chance to present information. There was not any reason to dismiss anything," he said. The slaying is unrelated to any of Horowitz's current or former cases, Golde told reporters. Coincidentally, Lafayette's last homicide seven years ago is now one of Horowitz's cases. A jury in 2001 convicted Lee Snyder, Joseph Perez, Jr. and Maury O'Brien in the killing of 46-year-old Janet Daher, a mother of two, in her Rose Lane home in March 1998. Horowitz is representing O'Brien, who testified against the other two men. Perez received the death penalty, Snyder life in prison without parole. O'Brien agreed to serve 25 years to life with the possibility of parole in exchange for his testimony. Court records show that Horowitz stepped in after the convictions, saying that O'Brien got an unfair plea deal and poor legal representation. O'Brien is still in County Jail in Martinez, attending court hearings to reach a new plea agreement. Staff writer Bruce Gerstman covers courts. Reach him at 925-952-2670 or bgerstman@cctimes.com. WHAT'S A MISTRIAL? When a judge declares a mistrial, the trial to that point is invalid. The District Attorney's Office may bring the defendant back to trial on the same charges in front of a new jury. What's Next: The prosecution and defense will meet next Dec. 2 for a status hearing. A temporary trial date has been set for Jan. 3, 2006.