Prosecutor: DNA, symbol, testimony links 17-year-old to murder

MARTINEZ, Calif. - Disparate pictures of defendant Scott Dyleski emerged as his trial on charges of murdering a prominent defense attorney's wife began.

Prosecutor Harold Jewett described the 17-year-old Dyleski as a loner who wore black and dabbled in macabre art often signed with a particular symbol, one that bore some resemblance to a mark carved in the dead woman's back.

But defense attorney Ellen Leonida described Dyleski as conscientious and caring beneath a facade of teenage angst.

"Scott is not a killer," said Leonida. "He is a kind, gentle and conscientious kid."

In his opening statement Thursday, Jewett said DNA links Dyleski to the killing, but the case is about more than that, including other evidence and testimony.

"It's not any one piece of evidence. It's everything," Jewett said. "You take everything and you add it up."

Dyleski, wearing a shirt and tie, his hair cut short and slicked back, looked fixedly at Jewett as he spoke. The teenager, who is being tried as an adult and could face life in prison if convicted, has denied involvement in the killing.

Leonida, who spoke only briefly Thursday, told jurors that Dyleski was home when Vitale was killed and also said there is conflicting DNA evidence.

Court is scheduled to resume Monday.

The case began Oct. 15, when Horowitz returned home to find his wife's body in the trailer they were sharing during construction of their dream home on a hilltop in the San Francisco suburb of Lafayette.

The attorney, a frequent commentator on CNN and other channels, had left home early that morning on business and wasn't considered a suspect, although at first police wondered if the killing might have something to do with one of his cases.

But four days after the killing, police arrested Dyleski, then 16, and a neighbor of Horowitz and Vitale.

Preliminary testimony and police documents indicate Dyleski and a friend had bought marijuana-growing equipment using credit card information and addresses stolen from their neighbors, including Horowitz and Vitale.

According to Dyleski's friend, one company denied a purchase that apparently was to be shipped to Horowitz and Vitale's address.

Jewett described Vitale's injuries in bleak detail, saying the 52-year-old woman "fought as valiantly as she could."

As for the mark on the body, one of the stranger aspects of the case, it was cut straight, square and deliberate, Jewett said. That mark resembled an H laid sideways, as Jewett drew it for jurors. The other symbol drawn by the prosecutor, one he said was frequently found on Dyleski's works, looked a bit like a stick figure and included a star inside a circle.

Jewett said Dyleski returned home that morning with a mark on his face and an injured wrist and told his family he had gotten scratched while on a walk. Later, when the credit card scheme started coming to light, Dyleski continued to deny involvement, Jewett said.

Dyleski's mother, Esther Fielding, initially was arrested for destroying evidence, but charges were dropped after she agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Jewett said Fielding burned items belonging to her son including a hard drive and pieces of paper with other people's account information on them.

Some of the items were eventually turned over to police. Then in January, a man who had moved into Dyleski's vacated room found some slips of paper that apparently had been hidden in a dresser.

The handwriting was identified as Dyleski's, Jewett said. Four of the pieces of paper had account information on it. The fifth was a sketchy note that, as read by Jewett, said, "Knock out/kidnap? Keep captive to confirm PINs. Dirty work. Dispose of evidence. Cut up. Bury."