Brand X Pictures/Thinkstock(MIAMI) -- The Florida woman on trial for allegedly hiring a hit man to kill her husband is using an unusual defense: it was a scripted ploy to snag a reality TV show. Dalia Dippolito, 30, is facing charges of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. In 2009, she allegedly hired an undercover police officer posing as a hit man to kill her husband, Mike Dippolito.
In opening statements Tuesday, Dalia Dippolito's defense team claimed that the hiring of a hit man to kill her husband was a big hoax and that Dalia Dippolito's husband, Mike, was in on the scheme. The defense argues that the couple was committing the hoax to get a reality show.
Mike Dippolito denied that, taking the stand and testifying that he was absolutely shocked to discover that six months into his marriage, his wife was plotting to have him killed.
In 2009, detectives set up an undercover sting operation which included telling Dalia Dippolito that her husband had been killed. All of the sting was caught on camera by the crew of the reality show Cops.
Video showed Dalia Dippolito crying when she learned her husband had been murdered and asking to see him. Surveillance video caught her planning the murder.
"I just need to make sure everything is going to be taken care of," she told the police officer posing as the hit man.
The defense argues that it was Mike Dippolito, a convicted felon on probation, who orchestrated the entire thing.
Defense attorneys argued Mike Dippolito was a fan of shows like the Jersey Shore and Cheaters, which lead him to plan a fake murder for hire so he and his wife could get their own reality show.
Dalia Dippolito expected her husband to tell investigators it was a hoax after she was arrested, defense lawyers said.
While the defense might argue that her husband craved the attention of a reality show, Dalia Dippolito was the one with the reality TV experience. As a teenager, she appeared on an expisode of The Jamie Kennedy Experiment that included a fake hit man.
ABC legal analyst Dan Abrams said that for the defense of reality TV to work, Dalia Dippolito will have to take the stand.Œ79;
