ALFRED — For awhile, Angel Dapolito had an inkling of how her father made his living. There was a money counter and a scale in the house, boxes in the garage and her father carried enough cash that he could buy a television set without a credit card.
By the time she finished ninth grade, she knew marijuana trafficking supported her household. She had seen the marijuana — one time as much a bale — and knew that more was kept in a storage facility.
On Wednesday, Angel Dapolito testified for the defense in the murder trial of her father, Patrick Dapolito. His involvement in the drug trade is key to the defense’s explanation of how his wife, 30-year-old Kelly Winslow, suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head on March 16, 2010.
Dapolito initially told authorities her death was an accident. He said he had been on a cocaine binge and that the couple had gone to sleep on the bathroom floor, he with a gun in his hand. Dapolito said he was woken by the noise of the gun firing.
Now the defense maintains that Dapolito returned home from the store that morning to find his wife dead, a victim of a dispute with his suppliers.
Angel Dapolito, 20, described the couple’s marijuana business as structured and organized, with regular shipments.
“From what I heard between them, other drugs brought bad news, dirty people, mean people,” she testified in York County Superior Court.
Angel Dapolito described their household as happy. They moved from Gorham to Limington, where the girls wanted for nothing and the adults proudly pursued remodeling projects.
The summer of 2009 started out well, with the family celebrating Angel Dapolito’s high school graduation and going with her to get her first tattoo: the words courage, honesty, honor, loyalty and sacrifice in Greek letters on her back. But when she returned from a camping trip, her father and Winslow were terrified.
Because of rules regarding evidence, Angel Dapolito did not testify Wednesday about the content of her conversations with the couple. Defense attorney David Van Dyke said she may be called back after her father takes the stand.
The couple took precautions because of their frightening situation, Angel Dapolito testified. She was given a thumb drive and was told it was her life insurance. She found a gun tucked among towels. Money was moved out of the house. A doberman was moved in for security.
At night, she heard knocking, banging and scratching noises around the house. Patrick Dapolito and Winslow started traveling frequently for reasons related to their problems.
She denied witnessing any physical violence between them. Winslow’s 15-year-old daughter testified last week that Patrick Dapolito abused her mother.
After the couple’s December 2009 wedding, it seemed that the danger had passed, Angel Dapolito said.
But in mid-March, she was summoned back to southern Maine by Kelly Labbe, her father’s former girlfriend who had helped raise Angel Dapolito and her sister.
Her father was hysterical. It was two days after Winslow’s death and he had already moved her body to his father’s property in Upton, in western Maine. He would surrender to police the next day.
“He was sobbing uncontrollably and apologizing over and over,” Angel Dapolito said as her voice broke. “He told me that there had been an accident.”
Angel Dapolito said she revealed her father’s drug activities to Van Dyke a few months later. Van Dyke has said his client started talking about it after he realized the authorities already knew.
During the cross-examination, Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese questioned Angel Dapolito about some of her actions, including pulling her sister out of school because a state trooper was at their home and failing to turn over the thumb drive to authorities when it could have helped find Winslow’s killer.
Marchese also noted inconsistencies between her testimony Wednesday and previous statements. The prosecutor noted, for example, that Angel Dapolito had told a detective that her father didn’t take the strange night noises seriously.
“I was not being truthful,” she said. “I kept everything about the drugs under wraps. I did.”
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