Scott Dyleski to stand trial

MARTINEZ — Scott Dyleski will stand trial for murder in the slaying of television commentator Daniel Horowitz’s wife, a case that has drawn national attention since the prominent lawyer, while himself involved in a high-profile murder trial, found her body at their home in Lafayette in October.

After four day’s testimony, Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Mary Ann O’Malley ruled today that prosecutor Harold Jewett had presented ample evidence that Dyleski, 17, likely killed his neighbor Pamela Vitale, 52, on Oct. 15.

Dyleski showed no emotion as O’Malley made her ruling in a Martinez courtroom. The youth, who has been charged as an adult, will be arraigned on March 3 and may enter a plea again. He has previously pleaded not guilty.

“It appears to me that the offense of murder, as charged, has been committed and that there is sufficent cause to believe that Scott Dyleski is guilty,” O’Malley said.

The judge also ordered Dyleski to stand trial on a charge that he possessed a deadly or dangerous weapon to bludgeon Vitale. O’Malley also agreed with the prosecution’s decision to charge Dyleski as an adult.

Horowitz attended today’s hearing but declined comment.

Horowitz found his wife in the fetal position near the door of their mobile home in Hunsaker Canyon not far from where they were building a house. The discovery came as he was defending Susan Polk on charges that she killed her husband in their Orinda home in 2002. Polk is now defending herself and is to go on trial later this month.

Citing a gag order in the Vitale case, both Jewett and Dyleski’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Ellen Leonida, declined to comment on the judge’s decision.

Speaking generally, however, Jewett said the standard of proof required in a preliminary hearing — called probable cause — is lower than that needed to obtain a conviction in a criminal trial, which requires proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

“I’m not going to speculate about the sentence here at all,” Jewett said. “We gotta go to trial, and we’re going to let a jury decide what the truth in this case is.”

The judge ruled after the last witness, Contra Costa sheriff’s criminalist David Stockwell, testified that blood evidence linked Dyleski to the slaying.

Jewett and Leonida then sparred over what evidence should be allowed for consideration in the preliminary hearing.

The prosecutor argued that artwork created by Dylseki should be allowed because it reflected the youth’s “homicidal frame of mind.” He cited a page of symbols — including some he said were similar to one that was carved on the victim — and referred to a drawing that showed a figure holding a knife and featured a substance that could presumably be blood.

“If we could imagine the person who killed Pamela Vitale was wearing a coat with a knife with a mask, it may have looked a lot like that,” Jewett said, referring to the drawing.

Leonida countered that the drawing was simply art and any inference that it suggests homicidal intent “is his imagination — not Mr. Dyleski’s, but Mr. Jewett’s.”

“A lot of people create artwork,” she told the court. “A lot of artwork is disturbing.”

The judge allowed the drawing and the page of symbols to be presented as evidence. She declined to consider other drawings Jewett had hoped to introduce.

During this week’s preliminary hearing, Dyleski’s aunt and mother testified for the prosecution. Esther Fielding, his mother, however, provided vague answers at times, resulting to some testy exchanges between her and Jewett.

Other people who lived with Dyleski reported that his behavior changed markedly in the weeks before the slaying, with the youth becoming more withdrawn and no longer engaging with or cooking for his family.

After the slaying, witnesses testified that Dyleski was concerned that his DNA might be on Vitale’s body, or hers on his.

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