Defense witness shocks du Pont case with testimony

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1999 | 9:53 a.m.

Both sides in the du Pont murder trial rested their cases Tuesday, but not before a defense witness shocked the prosecution by supplying the defendant a partial alibi.

Rochelle Del Carmen, a lounge singer, testified she saw Ricardo Murillo between 1:30 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. Aug. 2, 1998, at the Plaza hotel-casino where she was performing.

While Del Carmen's testimony doesn't conflict with evidence that indicates Patti Margello died between 3 a.m. and 3:37 a.m. that day, it could cast doubt on a key prosecution witness's testimony that Murillo was with her between midnight and 6 a.m. and participated in the slaying of Margello, 45.

According to prosecutors, Delaware resident Christopher Moseley hired Diana Hironaga, Murillo and Joseph Balignasa to kill Margello, his stepson's girlfriend, because she was interfering with Moseley's attempts to rescue his stepson from a life of drugs and destitution.

Moseley's stepson is Dean MacGuigan, a direct descendant of the founder of the Dupont Chemical Corp.

The four defendants were indicted when authorities were able to connect Hironaga to the motel room where Margello was found strangled to death and Hironaga implicated herself and the others.

Hironaga testified for the prosecution Friday in the hopes of getting something other than the life sentence that is normally received in murder-for-hire cases. She told jurors that she lured Margello to the Del Mar Resort Motel on Las Vegas Boulevard South and Murillo strangled her with Balignasa's belt while she and Balignasa held her down.

Hironaga testified she was with Murillo and Balignasa from around midnight until 6 a.m. Aug. 2.

Del Carmen, however, said she remembers taking a break from her show at the Plaza and seeing Murillo, who is a family friend, sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. that morning.

Del Carmen said she specifically remembers the occasion because it was the weekend of her birthday.

Another acquaintance of Murillo's, Mary Perez, said she also saw Murillo at the Plaza that morning. She testified that while she doesn't remember the exact day or date of the event, she remembers the band was singing birthday songs to their lead singer.

Under cross-examination, Del Carmen testified her band sang birthday songs to her on both the morning of Aug. 1 and Aug. 2. She insisted, however, she saw Murillo on Aug. 2.

Prosecutors know Margello was alive at 3 a.m. because more than one witness testified she called MacGuigan at his hotel room at that time. They also believe she died sometime prior to 3:37 a.m. because a time-stamped Walgreen's videotape shows Balignasa and Murillo at 3:37 a.m. buying the trash bags they allegedly wrapped Margello in. Hironaga also testified she was left alone with the body while they went to buy drinks and the trash bags.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella asked, outside the jurors presence, that Del Carmen and Perez's testimony be stricken from the record. He told U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush that the defense specifically stated that they had no alibi witnesses and therefore the prosecution did not know they had any such claims to investigate.

Assistant Federal Public Defenders Shari Kaufman and Arthur Allen insisted, however, that Del Carmen was not an alibi witness and was rather an impeachment witness. Del Carmen did not testify as to Murillo's whereabouts at 3 a.m., she simply rebutted Hironaga's claims that Murillo was with her at 1:30 a.m., they said.

Quackenbush did not strike the woman's testimony but told Kaufman and Allen that they could not argue during their closing statements that Murillo could not have been at the Del Mar at 3 a.m. because he was at the Plaza.

Hironaga's testimony has been challenged in other respects as well. She told jurors that she bought bandages and ointment for Murillo because Margello clawed a hunk of skin from Murillo's arm while fighting for her life. However, the blood found under Margello's fingernails was her own, and FBI agents were unable to substantiate Hironaga's claims about the bandages because the store's computers had already been purged of sales information for the day in question.

Hironaga also testified that Murillo was irate that Moseley ended up paying him $10,000 for Margello's death when he had been promised $25,000. She said Murillo needed the money to rescue his mother's restaurant, which was about to close.

Murillo's mother, Fe Murillo, 70, testified Tuesday that she doesn't own a restaurant. She also said she is doing well financially and has not received any money from her son.

All of the money orders and checks Moseley sent to Hironaga in the weeks prior to Margello's death were made out to Hironaga only, and no witness other than Hironaga has testified that Murillo made the trip back East to get paid for the murder.

Jurors were scheduled to hear closing arguments and begin deliberating this morning.

Moseley, who also testified against Murillo, is awaiting sentencing. Balignasa is awaiting trial.