By Molly Moorhead, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
NEW PORT RICHEY — Prosecutors in the death penalty murder case against John Ditullio plan to call a new witness who claims Ditullio made admissions to him in jail in the past two years about stabbing two people in a hate-fueled rampage.
Kraig Constantino is representing himself on charges of aggravated battery. He was in jail until last week, when he agreed to testify and prosecutors agreed to let him out on his own recognizance.
During his time in jail, he filed numerous hand-written motions and made hundreds of phone calls, all of which Ditullio's attorney plans to use to indict Constantino's credibility.
The 11th-hour information prompted Circuit Judge Michael Andrews to delay the retrial, which had been set for next week. Ditullio was tried last December, but it ended with a deadlocked jury.
Ditullio, 24, was a member of a small neo-Nazi clan that lived in a mobile home on Teak Street in Griffin Park. On March 23, 2006, prosecutors say, he donned a gas mask and broke into the home next door where a woman lived with her son. They say the neo-Nazis hated Patricia Wells because she had black friends and her son is gay. Authorities say Ditullio charged at her with a knife, stabbing her in the face and hands, then went after Kristofer King, a friend of Wells' son. King, 17, died a day after the attack.
According to defense attorney Bjorn Brunvand and Assistant State Attorney Mike Halkitis, Constantino will testify that:
• Ditullio had three or four conversations with him before last year's trial and one after in which he admitted doing the stabbings.
• Ditullio said he stabbed Wells because she was dating an African-American man and they sold crack cocaine.
• Ditullio said he turned the knife on Kristofer King as he was coming to Wells' aid.
• Ditullio said Shawn Plott, another member of the neo-Nazis who Brunvand has painted as the real killer but who is currently on the run, won't ever be found because he "had friends who did him in."
When Halkitis repeated that in court Wednesday morning, Ditullio tipped his head back, crinkled his face and shook his head.
Constantino, 40, has been involved in the court system for more than 20 years. He often chooses to represent himself, filling volumes of files with handwritten motions. He has accused judges, court reporters and attorneys of committing fraud and falsifying records.
In Constantino's current case, he is accused of beating and stabbing a man he suspected of trying to hit on his girlfriend. The man was beaten with a wooden board and stabbed with a pocket knife.
In the case file, Constantino wrote a brief titled "Anatomy of a Crime" in which he discussed the origins of the Moon Lake neighborhood.
"Early on, the peace and public interest were preserved by members of the Ku Klux Klan," he wrote. "A gradual mingling of Klansmen and outlaw bikers policed the area into the late 1980s."
Halkitis said Constantino wanted to be released from jail in exchange for providing testimony against Ditullio because he feared for his safety. He has no other deal with prosecutors in his own case.
Constantino claims that Ditullio has "tremendous influence" over other inmates at the Pasco County jail, including various ethnic gangs. He also said there are jail guards who support Ditullio and might harm Constantino if he was in lockup.
Brunvand called the assertions "ludicrous."
"Over the past 20 years, this particular witness has manipulated the court system, and he will say whatever he has to," Brunvand said.
He maintains that Ditullio is innocent of the crime and Plott is more likely the killer.
Molly Moorhead can be reached at moorhead@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6245.