Lafayette, Calif. – The wife of prominent defense lawyer and TV legal analyst Daniel Horowitz was found slain in the entryway of the couple’s San Francisco Bay Area home, authorities said Sunday.
Horowitz, currently leading the defense in a sensational murder trial, called 911 Saturday evening to report he had found his wife, Pamela Vitale, dead in their home, police said.
Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputies said Sunday the death was being investigated as a homicide. An autopsy was planned today to determine how she was killed.
“We talked to a number of people last night, but there’s nobody in custody. We’re still trying to establish a motive,” said sheriff’s spokesman Jimmy Lee.
As a lawyer who defended drug dealers, death-row inmates and other serious criminals, Horowitz was concerned for his safety, said lawyer Ivan Golde, a longtime friend and co-counsel in Horowitz’s current trial. He had a gun and a surveillance camera on the property, he said.
“It’s only normal to have in the back of your mind, especially when you’re dealing with true-caliber criminals,” Golde said. “A lot of these people, that’s the way they are – they threaten people.”
About 20 officers and investigators from the Lafayette Police Department and the county sheriff’s department were at the home Sunday morning. A deputy was posted at the bottom of a steep driveway leading to the home, and a canopy of trees blocked views of the property on a sprawling hillside estate about 20 miles east of San Francisco.
The couple had been married for a decade and were living in a trailer on the property while their dream home was being built, Golde said.
“The two were so intertwined with each other,” Golde said. “They were perfect for each other, and it was a great marriage. We’re all just in total shock.”
Horowitz did not answer calls Sunday by The Associated Press. He told the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday that he couldn’t talk.
“It’s beyond words,” he said.
