Monica Sementilli says she didn’t assist plan the homicide of her LA magnificence exec husband. Will a jury imagine her?

In 2017, Monica Sementilli had an enviable life — an expensive home with a pool and a Porsche within the driveway — in a complicated space of Los Angeles.

However after spending nearly seven years behind bars ready by way of authorized delays and COVID, she is scheduled to go on trial for the homicide of her husband, celeb hairdresser and sweetness govt Fabio Sementilli.

As “48 Hours” contributor Michelle Miller experiences, it is a tangled story. Her defenders say Monica Sementilli is an harmless sufferer. However should you imagine prosecutors, she’s a felony. Authorities describe a case of lust, greed, and homicide. Whichever it’s, the drama unfolded on Jan. 23, 2017.

Elyse Bleuel: There have been fireplace vehicles outdoors of her home…and I used to be like, oh gosh … there was no police but. It was simply the primary responders.

Elyse Bleuel was a good friend of Monica Simental’s. “48 Hours” spoke together with her in 2018. She says Monica texted her to return over the night time Fabio was killed.

Elyse Bleuel: it was her and her daughters … She simply saved saying that “he is gone, that I am not a spouse anymore” … I simply held her. I simply held her.

Elyse Bleuel: It was so painful, simply the weeping…the not with the ability to breathe…she was past devastated… past devastated.

Monica’s husband, Fabio, was slumped over his chair by the pool.

Michelle Miller: Had you seen the physique? Had you seen?

Elyse Bleuel: Did not …

Elyse Bleuel: I simply needed to be the absolute best consolation. …  I did not know tips on how to consolation that. … she could not communicate in full sentences till just like the fourth day.

Detectives shortly discovered the sufferer, Fabio Sementilli, had been a celebrity within the magnificence enterprise.

“48 Hours” spoke with those that knew him finest in 2017. Fabio’s sister, Mirella Rota

Mirella Rota: He was a contented man. And he needed all people round him comfortable.

Luigi Sementilli: The easiest way to explain my dad, actually, is sort of a cup of espresso within the morning.

Luigi Sementilli is Fabio’s son from an earlier marriage.

Luigi Sementilli: He will get you going … he lifts your spirits … he will get you decided to cost the mountain of life.

Michelle Miller: Did your folks say, “Hey Luigi, is that your dad?”

Luigi Sementilli: Completely, yeah. It was sort of a enjoyable factor, you already know. … It is laborious to keep away from him while you sort in Sementilli on Google, it is very laborious … in reality while you sort in my identify, Luigi Sementilli, the very first thing that comes up is his profile! (laughs)

Fabio and his sister Mirella started chopping hair in Toronto, Canada. 

That is the place Fabio met Monica, a buyer and make-up artist he married in 1997.

Joe Mercurio: The marriage was unimaginable.

Restauranteur Joe Mercurio grew up with Fabio. He was finest man at Fabio’s wedding ceremony to Monica.

Joe Mercurio: We have been dancing proper to the very finish.

Mirella Rota: We noticed their relationship as a love story.

Fabio was additionally in love along with his profession — he and his sister Mirella have been getting well-known.

In 2008, Fabio was promoted to an govt job on the magnificence big Wella and moved his household to L.A. Pete Castellano was Fabio’s colleague.

Pete Castellano: What occurred was was the chance … to essentially permit the issues that he needed for his household to return to life by taking up a much bigger position.

He and Monica settled right into a life most of us can solely dream about.

Michelle Miller: He drove a Porsche.

Mirella Rota: Yeah.

Michelle Miller: What man does not need a Porsche in Los Angeles?

Mirella Rota: You are completely proper.

They have been dwelling the life and elevating their two teenage daughters, Gessica and Isabella.

FABIO SEMENTILLI (video): My circle of relatives unit is probably the most most expensive to me.

Then got here that January day. It was late afternoon as he sat by the pool. Fabio was stabbed to dying. His then-16-year-old daughter Isabella found his physique.

To investigators, the Sementilli case began out a thriller. However from early on, that they had at the least one intriguing clue.

From a neighbor’s safety digicam, they may see two figures in hoodies operating near the Sementilli’s home on the time of the homicide. A short while later, Fabio’s Porsche was being pushed away. Again then, Investigators did not suspect Monica had something to do with Fabio’s dying.  She wasn’t even dwelling on the time he was killed. As an alternative, they checked out these two hooded figures.

On the time of Fabio’s homicide in 2017, L.A was plagued with break-ins from infamous groups of criminals.

Michelle Miller (watching video of a knock-knock housebreaking): What do you name these guys? 

Det. William Dunn: Properly, we name them the knock-knock burglars. 

Michelle Miller: So, that is LAPD footage?

Det. William Dunn: Yeah. They know what they’re doing, and so they know what they need.

Michelle Miller:  I imply… they’re operating wild!

They have been hitting properties of celebrities throughout Los Angeles.

CRIME SCENE EVIDENCE LEADS TO A SUSPECT

It was 2017, and, for years, the properties of L.A. celebrities have been focused.

LOCAL NEWS REPORT: At the very least seven celebrities had a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars}’ price of bijou taken.

LOCAL NEWS REPORT: Excessive-profile victims embody $300,000 from former Lakers star Derek Fisher, $175,000 for Nikki Minaj…and $2 million from Alanis Morrissette’s Brentwood dwelling.

Det. William Dunn | LAPD (watching surveillance video of a knock-knock housebreaking): They’re transferring simply as fast as they’ll. 

Det. William Dunn: Out and in in about three minutes … they ransack a bed room, discover some jewellery and get out.

William Dunn, a Los Angeles Police Division detective on the time, had hours of videotape of the knock-knock burglars in motion throughout rich Los Angeles neighborhoods, together with one from a house only a few miles from Fabio’s, months after his homicide.

Michelle Miller (watching surveillance video of a knock-knock housebreaking): They appear to know what to search for.

Det. William Dunn: Proper, they’re searching for jewellery. They’re searching for money.

Michelle Miller: Take a look at him!

Det. William Dunn: Yeah, see he is checking garments, he is feelin the garments to see if someone’s put jewellery or money in a few of the pockets.

Det. William Dunn: See? Now he is seeing that secure.

Michelle Miller: Ah!

Det. William Dunn: See, and now he will get – he tells his buddy. Hey, have a look at what we have discovered. Now have a look at what number of seconds, and it is a actual heavy secure. … however they’re very decided … they put a variety of effort into it and it is so heavy he cannot – he cannot carry the factor. However have a look at how he is simply gonna slide that factor out.

Michelle Miller: In order that they received the secure, that is pay grime, and off they go.

Det. William Dunn: They’re gone. Yup! You see? They’re gone.

To detectives, these two hooded figures recorded on a neighbor’s surveillance digicam close to Fabio’s home proper across the time of his homicide regarded quite a bit just like the knock-knock burglars.

And the Sementilli dwelling had its personal cameras. Detectives hoped they might discover much more video of these hooded figures on these tapes.

There have been 4 cameras outdoors the Sementilli home, however when police got here to search for the video, it was gone! A DVR was within the storage, it saved all of the surveillance. Whoever broke in will need to have taken it. 

Unusually, in addition to taking Fabio’s Porsche, that black field was one of many solely issues stolen from the home, say investigators. Monica instructed them she thought some cheap jewellery and $11,000 in money was presumably lacking, however she wasn’t positive. Detectives say the house secure hadn’t been touched. 

Luigi Sementilli: The one factor I believed that was uncommon was why did not they take extra?  Why did not they take his watch?

The suspected burglars left behind an $8,000 Rolex on Fabio’s wrist.

However inside months, the knock-knock burglars started to fade as police suspects as a result of the police have been hanging on to a giant secret. No person besides investigators knew it on the time, however they found blood on the crime scene that didn’t belong to Fabio Sementilli. That meant detectives had DNA to work with. DNA that finally led to a suspect.

Capt. William Hayes | LAPD: We have been in a position to develop forensic proof … a few of that was DNA, which recognized Robert Baker.

Robert Baker had been a racquetball league director at a Los Angeles gymnasium, not removed from Fabio’s home. And Monica’s good friend, Elyse Bleuel, knew him. “48 Hours” spoke to her about him in 2018.

Michelle Miller: How would you describe Rob Baker?

Elyse Bleuel: He was cool. All of us actually appreciated him.

Elyse Bleuel: He was a type of gymnasium guys — you already know, grrr!

Bleuel performed in his league.

Elyse Bleuel: He was very alpha. He was a really alpha male. There was additionally sort of a sexual-ly factor about him.

Michelle Miller: There was one thing sexual about him. What do you imply?

Elyse Bleuel: You know the way some guys simply have simply have this sexual sort of, I do not know, he was very manly … he was in form, and he was sort of, you already know, saved the whole lot — he was in cost.

He was additionally snarled within the porn trade, even doing a little appearing.

Bleuel did not know a lot about Baker’s background, however she did hear about his film profession from a good friend who occurred to identify him in an grownup movie.

Elyse Bleuel: That is just like the sort of gossip that … you simply want to inform somebody.

Michelle Miller: Who did you inform?

Elyse Bleuel: I instructed Monica.

Monica was additionally in Robert Baker’s racquetball league.

Michelle Miller: What was her response?

Elyse Bleuel: Properly, it was fairly anticlimactic, I will inform ya.

Michelle Miller: Actually?

Elyse Bleuel: Yeah. ‘trigger a lotta instances after we would have woman discuss she’d get a little bit prude-y.  Like a little bit prude.

What Bleuel did not know was that Baker was additionally a registered intercourse offender.

Capt. William Hayes: Robert Baker has a 1993 conviction out of a Lengthy Seashore case. It is for lewd and lascivious acts with a minor.

Police say Baker served time for that offense in opposition to a teenage woman.

For months, police watched Baker and so they found two issues. First, he was undoubtedly not one of many knock-knock burglars, and second, he made hundreds of calls and texts to of all individuals, Monica Sementilli.

In reality, simply days after Fabio’s dying, Monica held a wake in her yard and Baker truly confirmed up.

Michelle Miller: You probably did meet him?

Mirella Rota: I did.

Rota says she noticed Monica hanging out with Baker.

Mirella Rota: I noticed her again … outdoors once more, with a drink, smoking, and speaking to this man. … I discovered that that was his identify, Rob. And he or she launched me to him.

Luigi observed him, too.

Luigi Sementilli: Robert and Monica have been within the nook speaking to one another, kind of away from the celebration.

And there was one thing else Luigi observed about Baker.

Luigi Sementilli: He had bandages on his arms.

One visitor even snapped footage of Monica and Robert Baker collectively. In the event you look carefully, you may simply make out a bandage on Baker’s finger. Police would later conclude Baker minimize that finger when he killed Fabio. And that is how his blood was on the scene.

Detectives visited Monica at dwelling utilizing what they known as a “ruse” — telling her they have been investigating the knock-knock burglars, when in reality they have been investigating her and secretly following Monica and Baker. And in accordance with authorities, it paid off. They are saying they discovered proof that Monica and Baker have been having an affair and conspired to kill Fabio.

JUSTIN EISENBERG | LAPD Chief of Detectives [to reporters in June 2017]: Over the previous a number of months, investigators have developed data and recognized Robert Baker, 55 years previous of Canoga Park and Monica Sementilli, 45 years previous, of Woodland Hills, who’s the spouse of our murder sufferer, as liable for his homicide.

Mirella Rota: He mentioned, “We arrested Monica for the homicide of your brother, and Robert Baker for the homicide of your brother.” And I used to be in shock. I am like, “They’re — you positive?” You recognize? I — I used to be in shock.

Mary Fulginiti: In response to the prosecution … these two have been plotting and planning to kill Fabio so they may stay their life collectively.

Mary Fulginiti is a former federal prosecutor and a “48 Hours” marketing consultant.

Mary Fulginiti: It was a really sophisticated investigation.

As authorities hustled Robert Baker and Monica Sementilli into courtroom, they every pleaded “not responsible.” However nearly six years later, Baker modified the whole lot.

Mary Fulginiti:  When he got here to courtroom that day, individuals have been surprised.   

ROBERT BAKER PLEADS NO CONTEST TO MURDER OF FABIO SEMENTILLI

Monica Sementilli was being accused of dishonest on Fabio with that racquetball coach Robert Baker after which—together with Baker— planning Fabio’s homicide.

Elyse Bleuel: My immediate and thorough and full response was there is not any effing means … I used to be there. She was decimated. 

After months of crying and grieving alongside Monica, Fabio’s household could not imagine it both.

Mirella Rota: Twenty-some years of my life she was like a sister. She was a cool aunt to my children … she was loveable … my entire household felt that means about her (crying).

Then, in 2023, Baker skipped trial altogether and pleaded no contest.

Mary Fulginiti:  Robert Baker pleads no contest.  And that is in essence accepting duty for the homicide. He is in the end sentenced to life with out parole.

JUDGE RONALD COEN (in courtroom): The utmost sentence on this case is life imprisonment with out the potential for parole plus one 12 months. … You perceive this?

ROBERT BAKER: Sure, sir.

However whereas Baker was accepting duty for Fabio’s dying, Monica wasn’t.

MIRELLA ROTA (in courtroom) : What he and Monica did to my brother, Fabio, is unforgivable.

However Monica’s personal daughters, Isabella and Gessica, supported their mother.

GESSICA SEMENTILLI (in courtroom): We’ll proceed to face by our mom as now we have executed for the final six years, and we’ll battle for her innocence.

As Monica ready to go to trial, her protection lawyer Leonard Levine made an announcement.

LEONARD LEVINE: We’re assured that Robert Baker’s responsible pleas and his truthful testimony will lastly set up as soon as and for all that Monica Sementilli had nothing to do with the planning or the homicide of Fabio Sementilli, her husband.

Monica’s protection staff wasn’t answering questions earlier than trial, so “48 Hours” requested New York-based protection lawyer Julie Rendelman to evaluate Monica’s protection staff’s pre-trial motions.

Julie Rendelman: There is not any witnesses that we all know of to date which might be going to return ahead and testify that she deliberate this homicide. 

She says Monica’s relationship with Baker does not show something.

Michelle Miller: It appears to strengthen the DA’s case that not solely did she have an affair, however the particular person she was having the affair with is the killer.

Julie Rendelman: I hear you, however the issue is — is that just because a person is having an affair, the — you can not take the leap to get to a person being accountable, um, for the dying of their cherished one, actually not past an inexpensive doubt.

However the prosecution says the affair is vital to establishing a conspiracy between Monica and Robert Baker — an alleged conspiracy detectives spent months monitoring.

Michelle Miller: How lengthy was that investigation?

Mary Fulginiti: 5 months. 5 to 6 months.

Whereas the DA additionally declined an interview earlier than going to trial, former prosecutor Mary Fulginiti reviewed the case in opposition to Monica.

Michelle Miller (outdoors the Sementilli’s dwelling): So, that is the scene of the crime?

Mary Fulginiti: Yeah … You recognize, that is the place the 2 joggers, you already know, got here in accordance with the video from a neighbor, uh, operating up right here towards the home.

Prosecutors say that first hooded determine — within the inexperienced sweatshirt— is Robert Baker.

Michelle Miller: So, what about that confederate?

Mary Fulginiti: We do not know who that particular person is. … it is a thriller.

Michelle Miller: What does this indictment say about Monica Sementilli?

Mary Fulginiti: This indictment is a really detailed define and timeline of the plot to kill Fabio Sementilli.

Mary Fulginiti: Motive right here is easy. I imply, that is love and cash. This is without doubt one of the oldest crimes within the ebook the place, you already know, two lovers desperately eager to be collectively, and so they attempt to do away with one of many spouses to allow them to be collectively for what? For monetary profit. … And that may imply the three quarters of 1,000,000 life insurance coverage coverage, the home, 401ks.

Police say the plan was to stage the scene to make it appear like the work of the knock-knock burglars and throw police off their path. They usually imagine Monica was deeply concerned.

Mary Fulginiti: They imagine … she was the one which coordinated the whole lot, the one which confirmed him, you already know, the place the home was, the place the DVR was, in order that he knew the place to go to tear it out of the partitions. The right way to get into the home.

And that is not all. The prosecutor says six months earlier than the homicide, Monica forwarded an e mail sharing particulars of her dwelling safety system with Baker.

Mary Fulginiti: She supplied the password, the username, the log in credentials, in addition to the consumer handbook to Robert Baker, the identical day that she obtained it from the surveillance firm.

After which there’s the day of the homicide. Prosecutors say Monica’s habits that day is a key aspect of her position within the conspiracy to kill Fabio. In response to prosecutors, surveillance video reveals Monica left dwelling at 3:26 p.m. driving the household’s black Ford F-150 pickup.

Michelle Miller (standing in a Goal car parking zone): That is the place she got here, in accordance with prosecutors, to ascertain her alibi?

Mary Fulginiti: So, quite a bit occurs on this car parking zone. … she pulls in right here in her Ford-150 pickup truck proper in entrance of this retailer … stops for only a few minutes.

Prosecutors say they’ve video the place it seems a person will get into Monica’s truck. They are saying that particular person was Robert Baker. Monica then goes alone into the Goal retailer and begins purchasing. However as she leaves, prosecutors say this surveillance picture reveals her fixated on her telephone.

They might inform a grand jury it seems she was streaming video from her dwelling — a variety of it.

THE EVIDENCE AGAINST MONICA SEMENTILLI  

So what was Monica Sementilli watching on her telephone that afternoon at in regards to the time her husband was being murdered?

Mary Fulginiti. The telephone information and knowledge present that she’s connecting to a novel IP tackle. … It occurs to be the IP tackle of the home. And there is a considerable amount of knowledge that is being consumed. And that giant quantity of knowledge is in line with video streaming, i.e, the surveillance video of the home.

Surveillance video? In response to the DA, it may need been video from her dwelling safety cameras.

However may Monica have been watching the precise homicide?

Mary Fulginiti: No… The surveillance cameras in the home are — are going through outdoors, however they are not going through within the pool space, which was the place Fabio was situated on the time. So, they did not truly seize the homicide, however they might seize clearly who was coming and going.

Monica may have been watching the whole lot else, prosecutors say.

Mary Fulginiti (with Miller within the Goal car parking zone): They’ll argue … she’s watching the scene, the scene of the crime to see the comings and goings of when Baker and the confederate are going into the home, when are they leaving the home in order that she is aware of when she will depart right here and go dwelling.

Prosecutors say whereas she is watching the feed, Baker and his confederate have been on the Sementilli property stalking Fabio.

Mary Fulginiti: In response to the prosecution, “it was a really focused assault that was executed with the intent to kill.” In addition they go on to say that “he was stabbed within the neck, it minimize his jugular vein, minimize the carotid artery.”

And there is extra proof of the plot to kill Fabio. Prosecutors say Baker was planning a future with Monica.

Mary Fulginiti: The DA says that about two months earlier than the homicide, Baker instructed a good friend that he had been courting this lady for a couple of 12 months, and that he despatched an image of that lady, and that lady was Monica.

Mary Fulginiti: After which two months later Fabio was killed.

Authorities additionally say Monica’s habits after the homicide is suspect. She did not transfer her teenage daughters out of the home or have her safety system repaired.

Mary Fulginiti: And the prosecutors argued that the rationale why she had no concern, as a result of she knew who the killer was, and she or he was with him.

Mary Fulginiti: This can be a lady who’s pretending to be a grieving widow and making all these posts on social media.

Mary Fulginiti: Who on the similar time is carrying on a torrid love affair with the person who truly killed her husband.

Prosecutors made express photographs public in courtroom filings. Some we will not present you. They are saying its proof the secretive romance continued after Fabio’s dying.

Mary Fulginiti: I imply, that is a double life. … The D.A. offered {a photograph} of Monica and — and Baker to the grand jury. And it was {a photograph} of Monica truly grabbing his crotch. … And this was one, uh, that was taken in Vegas.

Michelle Miller: There was additionally this — this picture of a mirror.

Mary Fulginiti: Proper. … it was a photograph of the again of Monica … with Mrs. Baker, uh, written lipstick on the mirror.

Michelle Miller: The … lipstick and the mirror … What — what does that inform them?

Mary Fulginiti: Once more, this all goes to motive. I imply, Mrs. Baker … she needed to be Mrs. Baker.

However when detectives requested Monica about Robert Baker, prosecutors say she instructed them she wasn’t even positive of his final identify. They are saying she additionally instructed them she wasn’t positive tips on how to work the house safety cameras.

Mary Fulginiti: To cite the prosecution right here, they are saying, “She’s a liar, she’s a manipulator, she’s a cheater. And the whole lot that comes out of her mouth must be taken with a big grain of salt massive sufficient in order that you could possibly choke on it.”

Mary Fulginiti: If they’ll present that Monica lied about her life-style, in regards to the affair, about a wide range of different issues, that they will persuade the jury that she’s additionally mendacity about her involvement on this conspiracy to kill Fabio.

They usually say when she was later confronted about why Baker’s blood was present in her home, she continued to lie.

Mary Fulginiti: She comes up with some cockamamie story about, you already know, taking part in racquetball with Baker and hitting him within the finger and that it was bleeding and there was a bloody towel and she or he needed to convey it dwelling and — and that is why his blood was on the home.

However Fulginiti says one of many largest items of proof in opposition to Monica is what occurred when police got here up with a plan to secretly report the couple. It started after they pulled them over as they have been driving.

Mary Fulginiti: It is a ruse by the police. … They are saying that they suppose the automotive that they are in is stolen and so they needed to, you already know, simply test it out and you already know, most likely is not and so they handcuff them per protocol, put them into the police automobile. However what they do not know is that automobile’s wired and that there is a van up the road with police in it listening to their each phrase. And it is at that time, Monica says, and I am gonna quote right here: “Any person will need to have talked. Any person is doing this to us.” After which she mentioned, “They will need to have one thing. They will need to have one thing.”

Mary Fulginiti: That is fairly damning proof. … as a former prosecutor that’s near an admission to being concerned on this conspiracy.

In response to detectives, Monica was additionally recorded telling her cellmate, “He isn’t simply my lover … he is my confidante … he is my the whole lot.”

Detectives additionally intercepted letters Monica wrote to Baker from behind bars saying, “I am all the time amazed how we each know what the opposite is pondering. DESTINED!” And “I miss you a lot my love!”

Mary Fulginiti: If you have a look at these items within the totality, it should put collectively a fairly excellent puzzle right here. And the puzzle will paint this image that Monica conspired with Baker, that he didn’t do it alone, that they did it collectively.

However Monica’s defenders say the case in opposition to her is flimsy, and so they say Baker did it with out her.

Julie Rendelman: Robert Baker might have killed him as a result of he needed him out of the way in which. Perhaps he did it as a result of he hoped that by killing him, he would get Monica to himself. … That in and of itself doesn’t set up that Monica was in on the homicide.

DEFENDING MONICA SEMENTILLI

Monica Sementilli’s protection is adamant she had completely nothing to do with Fabio’s homicide.

Julie Rendelman: The protection’s place is that there isn’t any laborious proof, truly no proof that establishes Monica Sementilli participated in conspiracy.

And if you cannot show a conspiracy, you may’t show Monica’s guilt says Rendelman.

Michelle Miller: The sheer variety of circumstances that appear to weave collectively— the car parking zone assembly … the strolling into the shop and watching video that has streamed stay from the house … the password being given to the killer … all of these issues, the sum of them, would not a jury imagine is simply an excessive amount of of a coincidence?

Julie Rendelman: Clearly, I can not reply for what the jury is gonna say. Um, the protection, I may promise you, goes to try to poke holes — holes in each single piece of proof you simply spoke about.

Michelle Miller: So, let’s go step-by-step … the sharing of that password for the surveillance video.

Julie Rendelman: So, there isn’t any query that she shared the password.

However Rendelman says there is not any connection between sharing that password and a homicide plot.

Julie Rendelman: There’s completely no proof between the six months that she shared it and the day he was killed, that establishes there was any plan in place between them in any way to have her husband killed, not a textual content, not an e mail, not a dialog together with her finest good friend saying she’s over her relationship.

Julie Rendelman: The second concern is, there’s completely no proof that Robert Baker downloaded the app or ever even used the app.

Michelle Miller: Let’s discuss in regards to the actions within the car parking zone the day of the homicide. … somebody seems to be moving into the automotive.

Julie Rendelman: Maintain a pair issues in thoughts. One is from the protection’s perspective … the video footage is so grainy that you may’t make out who if anyone is moving into Monica Sementilli’s automotive.

And what in regards to the allegation that she was watching video of the home because the homicide occurred?

Michelle Miller: As soon as she went contained in the Goal — there was a time limit the place she appeared fascinated, fixated on her telephone.

Julie Rendelman: Properly, I will inform you one factor. The prosecution does not know what she was watching on her telephone. They can not articulate nor will they ever be capable of articulate what was occurring in that telephone.

Michelle Miller: But it surely was being streamed from her dwelling.

Julie Rendelman: She may very well be watching a present, identical to any one in all us watched your present whereas we’re strolling alongside.

Michelle Miller: The prosecution actually digs in on Monica’s character, the truth that she’s having an affair.

Julie Rendelman: Properly, let me quote what the protection says in —with reference to that. “The prosecutor’s proof of Ms. Sementilli’s affair and particularly the sexist and lurid method through which it was offered … was irrelevant, improper and unfairly prejudicial to Ms. Sementilli.”

Julie Rendelman: They go on and say, “the sexual and romantic particulars of their affair have been merely irrelevant to the query, whether or not they conspired to homicide Fabio Sementilli.”

However then why deceive investigators — allegedly saying she was not sure of Robert Baker’s final identify?

Julie Rendelman: The query turns into, why is she mendacity? Is she mendacity as a result of she dedicated a homicide or is she mendacity as a result of she has been in a tryst with somebody for fairly some time and does not need the world to know significantly, regulation enforcement? 

Prosecutors did discover it suspicious that on the night time Fabio died, Monica was already inquiring about his life insurance coverage. However Rendelman says it isn’t odd.

Julie Rendelman: I perceive, um, the way it may look insensitive to begin asking a couple of life insurance coverage coverage so quickly after. However should you’re, uh, a person that isn’t financially sound, you might have two ladies at dwelling, you might have probably a mortgage to pay, you might have payments to pay, you’ll be frightened in regards to the monetary safety of your loved ones.

And are available trial, says Rendelman, what might actually assist Monica is that she will not be tried with Baker.  The jury won’t see the person who dedicated the precise homicide on the protection desk subsequent to Monica.  And that might make the case more durable for prosecutors, says Fulginiti.

Mary Fulginiti: The truth that he is her lover and the killer, the one which the DNA’s round the home, I imply that — there’s a spillover impact. And that every one would’ve, you already know, probably impacted, I feel, the jury on this case. And he is not there.

Michelle Miller: Would you say it was his final reward to Monica?

Mary Fulginiti: Yeah, I’d ‘trigger there’s completely no different cause for him truly to plead straight up, with none actual plea discount right here, to life with out the potential for parole, besides I assume his final murderous chivalrous act.

But it surely appears Baker might have an excellent larger affect on Monica’s case. “48 Hours” went to see him in jail, and he instructed us Monica had nothing to do with the homicide of Fabio and she or he by no means knew that he was Fabio’s killer. Baker additionally instructed us that he is not in contact with Monica and he has not determined if he’ll testify.

One other issue that might assist Monica, says Rendelman, the daughters Monica shared with Fabio are standing behind their mom.

Julie Rendelman: And so, there’s an argument to be made that the jury is wanting on the daughter saying, “in the event that they imagine her in any case this, should not we?”

As for Monica herself, she’s by no means spoken publicly – besides at a memorial for her deceased husband.  

MONICA SEMENTILLI (video from Fabio’s memorial):  How fortunate am I to have lived the best love story of all time. A narrative that folks solely examine. A narrative that films are fabricated from. Thanks a lot.

Monica Sementilli’s trial is scheduled to start in April.

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Produced by Chuck Stevenson. Greg Fisher is the event producer. Gabriella Demirdjian and Hannah Vair are the sector producers. Michael Baluzy, Grayce Arlotta-Berner, Wini Dini and Chris Crater are the editors. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the manager story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.