Judge Orders Dibartolo Held In Jail Judge Says Ex-Deputy Accused Of Killing Wife Broke Terms Of Release; October Trial Scheduled

A Spokane County judge has ordered accused killer Tom DiBartolo to sit in jail until his trial for contacting a woman who is a potential witness.

DiBartolo, a former sheriff’s deputy, had been free on $125,000 cash bail since April, when he pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

He is accused of shooting his wife to death last November at Lincoln Park on Spokane’s South Hill.

During Wednesday’s hourlong hearing, Superior Court Judge Neal Q. Rielly ruled that DiBartolo, 42, violated terms of his conditional release by having regular contact with a girlfriend, Christine Ritchie.

“This was not a one-time violation,” Rielly said. “Even more importantly, it is intentional. I no longer can rely on Mr. DiBartolo to conform to those conditions.”

Rielly ordered DiBartolo to remain without bond in the Spokane County Jail. The trial is scheduled to start Oct. 20.

Ritchie is one of 27 potential prosecution witnesses DiBartolo cannot meet with or talk to without the permission of the prosecutor’s office.

When Rielly released DiBartolo in April, the judge imposed more than a dozen restrictions, including prohibitions against drinking alcohol, contacting his two oldest children and being out late at night.

Rielly said the release conditions had one purpose - ensuring that DiBartolo would not impede or interfere with investigations and interviews of prosecution witnesses.

Ritchie, a secretary with a Spokane medical service agency, came to court Wednesday. She left grim-faced after watching deputies take DiBartolo away in handcuffs.

Contacted later, Ritchie declined to comment on Rielly’s ruling.

Starting two weeks after his April release, she and DiBartolo met on a regular basis, driving together to and from work, detectives said. Over three days in August, police videotaped the couple meeting at a ren dezvous point, then driving together to his Medical Lake home.

DiBartolo is accused of killing his wife of 19 years, Patty, with a gunshot to her head. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge and said the murder took place during a robbery. He suffered a gunshot wound in the side, which prosecutors say was self-inflected.

Defense attorney Maryann Moreno told Rielly on Wednesday that putting DiBartolo in jail would likely cost him a job he needs to pay his defense.

After working 18 years as a sheriff’s deputy, DiBartolo was fired this spring for various department violations.

Moreno said DiBartolo has been working as a roofer and is concerned that his mounting legal costs may be beyond his means.

Spokane County Prosecutor Jim Sweetser told the judge that DiBartolo still owns a home and can sell it if he needs extra money to continue preparing for trial.

He described DiBartolo’s conduct with Ritchie as “blatant, purposeful and done in complete disregard” for Rielly’s conditions.

Ritchie told police that she and DiBartolo had discussed portions of his case, including his bullet wound and the role the police investigator was taking in pre-trial interviews.

“He knew he was risking it, meeting with this witness,” Sweetser said. “And he lost.”

The initial report of DiBartolo meeting with Ritchie came in June, from employees of a Spokane Valley car dealership.

It took until August, Sweetser said, for police to verify that the two had been seen together and for police to arrange a three-day video stakeout.

Moreno argued that the delay in verifying DiBartolo’s violation of the no-contact rule “shows they must not been very worried about it.”

, DataTimes