Friend of lawyer: Police close to break in case of wife's murder - Courttv.com

LAFAYETTE, Calif. (AP) — A friend of defense attorney and TV legal pundit Daniel Horowitz said Monday police are getting closer to a break in the slaying of Horowitz's wife, and a judge declared a mistrial in a murder case against one of Horowitz's clients.

Horowitz found Pamela Vitale dead Saturday night at the entrance of the mobile home they shared on property where they were building their dream estate, authorities said. The case is being investigated as a homicide.

Attorney Ivan Golde, a longtime friend and co-counsel in a high-profile trial Horowitz is currently involved in, said police were closer to solving the case.

"There is a potential suspect, but it's not a former client," Golde said Monday on his way in to the courtroom.

Meanwhile, a judge declared a mistrial in a murder case against a woman being defended by Horowitz, citing heavy news coverage of Vitale's slaying. Horowitz was not in court as the judge postponed the trial for Susan Polk, who is accused of murdering her therapist husband.

Legal analysts said that the judge presiding over Susan Polk's trial had little choice but to declare a mistrial in light of the murder of Pamela Vitale and the media storm it generated.

"I think the court had to at least consider whether there was any viable alternative, like whether his co-counsel knew enough about the case to be proceed, or whether [Horowitz] could have continued after an adjuournment," said Laurie Levenson, a prominent law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "I think those all would have been wishful thinking. They didn't have that many court days into it. This is one of those really extraordinary situations where you can try it again and there won't be any double jeopardy issues."

Contra Costa sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said Monday he hadn't learned anything about a possible suspect or a motive, and he called Golde's statement premature.

"We do have some leads that we are following up on, but I wouldn't want to characterize something as we're getting closer to an arrest," he said.

As a lawyer who defended drug dealers, killers and other serious criminals, Horowitz was worried about his safety, Golde said Sunday.

In June, Horowitz and Vitale sought a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction against Joseph Lynch, 54, who sold the couple part of the property on which they were building what friends called their dream home. According to the Contra Costa County Court system's Web site, the case was active but no new hearing dates were set.

The Alameda Times-Star reported Monday that Horowitz wrote in the complaint that Lynch allegedly abused drugs and alcohol and became violent. "The conduct I have described here is all very close to actual direct physical violence. I think, unfortunately, that is the next step in his attack," Horowitz wrote in the petition, according to the newspaper.

Lynch did not immediately return a message left on his answering machine. Police have not identified Lynch or anyone else as a suspect in the murder of Vitale, but Horowitz was clearly worried about what his neighbor might be capable of.

"I have phrased this declaration in personal terms but most important to me is that he stay away from my wife, Pamela," Horowitz wrote.

"This is a real tragedy, these are good people," Golde said earlier of Horowitz and Vitale.

Golde, who said he spoke to Horowitz on Saturday, would not give details about Vitale's death but said she was not shot.

After the death, a deputy was stationed Sunday at the bottom of the steep driveway leading to the home. A canopy of trees blocked views of the property, located on a sprawling hillside estate about 20 miles east of San Francisco.

Horowitz called 911 Saturday evening to report that his wife was dead, Lee said.

Another lawyer friend, Robert Massi, said Monday on NBC's "Today" show that he had seen Horowitz earlier Saturday and that Horowitz had an alibi during the day.

"He was with me for a couple of hours and met with his defense team about 11 o'clock on the Susan Polk case," Massi said. "In the afternoon he dropped paperwork off at the hotel where I was staying."

"Everything was fine. ... It's just devastating to think that nine hours later the man finds his wife like this," Massi added.

Horowitz and Vitale married about 10 years ago; both had been previously married. Vitale, 52, a former high-tech marketing executive, worked at her husband's law practice, managing databases.

Horowitz, 50, appears frequently on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, and became best known for providing a defense perspective in Scott Peterson's murder trial.

Opening statements were presented just last week in the trial of Polk, accused of murder in the 2002 stabbing death of her psychologist husband in the pool house of their Orinda home. Polk's husband, Felix, was her therapist when she was a teenager, and she claims she killed him in self-defense.

Vitale sat in the front row of the courtroom last week during Horowitz's opening statement, Golde said. "She was down to earth and she was cool and believed in what Dan was doing," Golde said.

Horowitz also defended former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko in a multicount money-laundering and fraud trial. In May, a judge threw out half of the convictions against Lazarenko, who is under house arrest in the San Francisco Bay area.

Horowitz also represented Steve Williams, the fan who snagged Barry Bonds' 700th home run ball, in a lawsuit to determine who could keep the ball. A judge allowed Williams to auction it.