Mistrial declared in murder-for-hire case

Joseph Balignasa will return to court Thursday for a new trial date on murder charges in the strangulation death of 45-year-old Patricia Margello, the drug-using girlfriend of a junior heir to the du Pont chemical fortune.

The jury was in its third day of deliberations Monday when court officials learned that information gathered over the weekend had been brought into the jury room against the directions of District Judge John McGroarty.

Jurors can consider only evidence and information presented at a trial.

On Monday, a juror brought in a dictionary to determine the definition of "culpable" and a telephone book apparently to track down the location of motels that were part of the case.

Another juror admitted to pricing a Calvin Klein belt on a weekend shopping trip. Balignasa admitted to police that he gave his Calvin Klein belt to a friend to strangle Margello.

Balignasa told police he gave Ricardo Murillo, 37, the belt out of fear. But Deputy District Attorney Bill Koot argued that the defendant's willingness to give up the expensive belt showed he was part of the murder-for-hire plot.

In addition to Murillo, federal charges are pending against Diana Hironaga, 40, and Christopher Moseley, 57, over what prosecutors have said was supposed to be a murder to prevent social embarrassment for the du Pont family.

The victim was the girlfriend of Dean MacGuigan, whose mother, Lisa Dean Moseley, is a direct descendent of the founder of the DuPont company and is married to Christopher Moseley.

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