Posted on 10/27/2005 5:28:04 PM PDT by smartin
Oct. 27 - ABC7 has confirmed that the mother of the prime suspect in the murder of a prominent East Bay Attorney's wife, is also under arrest.
Scott Dyleski's mother, Esther Fielding, was arrested this afternoon as an accessory to murder after the fact. She is being held at county jail in Martinez on $500,000 dollars bail.
Stay with abc7news.com for more information on this developing story as it becomes available.
Scott Dyleski Appears In Court
The 16-year-old accused of killing the wife of a prominent defense attorney and television commentator went to his girlfriend's house to have sex in the hours after the murder, according to investigators.
Scott Dyleski appeared behind a protective glass barrier during a brief court hearing Thursday. He did not enter a plea.
Also Thursday, Contra Costa County Judge David B. Flinn issued a temporary gag order until a Nov. 10 hearing, after attorneys on both sides sought to keep the case out of the media spotlight.
Contra Costa County sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said he received more than 200 media calls about the case on one day last week.
Dyleski is charged with first-degree murder as an adult in the death of Pamela Vitale, the wife of Daniel Horowitz.
Horowitz was a popular legal pundit who received national attention for his commentary during the double-murder trial of Scott Peterson, convicted last November of murdering his pregnant wife.
In a move guaranteed to bring the case even more attention, Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred has been retained by an unidentified witness in the case.
On the night of Oct. 15, Dyleski was at a friend's house with his girlfriend, according to an affidavit filed Tuesday in support of a search warrant for the girlfriend's Walnut Creek house.
After about an hour, the couple left for the girlfriend's house "in order to have sex," the affidavit said. Before he left, Dyleski called his mother, who told him to spend the night in Walnut Creek. She said the road was blocked because of "police activity within the area," the affidavit said.
Dyleski was arrested Oct. 19, four days after the killing. Vitale's body was found in a mobile home on the Lafayette estate where she and husband were building their 7,000 square-foot dream home.
Horowitz, who was defending Susan Polk, a woman accused of killing her husband, came home around 6 p.m. on Oct. 15 to find his wife's body. He called 911 to report the murder, according to authorities. Vitale had been beaten and stabbed, investigators said.
Dyleski was arrested after police received a tip from a neighbor who said his credit card was stolen, which led detectives to Dyleski. The credit card was allegedly used to buy hydroponic growing equipment -- often used to cultivate marijuana -- that was scheduled for delivery to the Horowitz residence, according to police documents.
Investigators believe Dyleski went to the home looking for the equipment and got in a fight with Vitale, an investigative source who requested anonymity told the San Francisco Chronicle last week.
In the Tuesday affadavit, a Contra Costa County Sheriff's detective said he was looking for a murder weapon "that could cause blunt force trauma," blood samples, hair fibers, a stabbing instrument, among other evidence.
The affidavit said investigators seized a duffel bag from a vehicle at Dyleski's house that contained clothing items and a glove, both with traces of blood.
"It appears as though some clothing items are still missing, as well as the stabbing instrument believed to have been used in the commission of the crime," Detective Cary Goldberg wrote.
Meantime, Dyleski's lawyer, Thomas McKenna, asked the judge Thursday to remove him from the case. He said neither Dyleski nor the suspect's father wants him on the case. McKenna defended the driver of a car that killed Scott Dyleski's half-sister and another passenger in 2002.
"He understands I need to withdraw from the case," McKenna said of his client. The case was temporarily assigned to the public defender's office.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Seriously, he's already done pro bono work for Dyleski's family, or at least someone living in Dyleski's house----but the nature of the work has never been specified.
Sorreee! ;-)
Here comes Gloria Allred, ego Ho.
I was joking.
WItnesses who seek out attorneys are just trying to not become suspects.
Another article I read said the Allred woman herself offered her services 'pro-bono' to the perps girlfriend.
>>>Could there be a love triangle since Horowitz knew the family quite well<<<
Any pictures of this Fielding woman?
More of that judgmentalism. You evidently do not live in California.
What little attention I've given this case is largely spent trying my best to resist overwhelming schadenfreud. It'd be interesting to watch this guy watching his doppelganger.
Wow; first time for two German words in one post for me! No others would suffice.
What's in a name? A family is deeper than names.
horowitz didnt know the family directly...
Have you heard that Dyleski thought that Vitale had run over the family's dog and maybe that's why he was so upset? Not that it justifies murder.
Read about it here:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=3587522
I heard many times that he did a lot of pro-bono work for them.
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