A Navy veteran was sentenced to 18 years to life in jail for killing his sister with a bayonet blade and axe after her penchant for watching true-crime content material led him to consider she would kill their mom.
Earlier than he was sentenced in September, 53-year-old Anthony Dibella instructed a decide in Jefferson County, New York, that he was formally recognized with schizoaffective and bipolar problems in 1994 after serving in operation Desert Storm, per courtroom minutes obtained by Inside Version, within the hopes that he “would possibly get [some] assist from a VA hospital as an alternative of going to jail.”
On April 28, 2022, Dibella reported his sister’s homicide to 911 dispatchers, telling them “Wanda Paoli is being killed, she is a witch killed with a knife and axe, and is at the moment on the porch” of their city of Lyme house, per courtroom paperwork.
First responders discovered Paoli lifeless with stab wounds to the top, neck and face, per courtroom paperwork.
When officers arrived to the house he and Paoli shared, discovering the deceased 67-year-old on the porch, Dibella allegedly instructed police that he “needed to do what I did to her as a result of she was getting in the way in which of me speaking to God.”
Dibella was arrested after police discovered his 89-year-old mom unhurt inside and charged him with second-degree homicide, assault with intent to trigger severe harm and fourth-degree felony possession of a weapon
Paoli’s sons, Shawn and Josh, wrote that they hope Dibella “rots in jail with no likelihood of ever getting out for what he has achieved” and that their convicted uncle was “nothing to [them] now” of their influence assertion shared on the Sept. 20 sentencing listening to.
“He selfishly and violently took her life and has destroyed our household,” the assertion learn. “Day-after-day is troublesome, and nobody can ever perceive the physiological influence this mindless tragedy has had… on the lives of our total household as a result of our mom is not right here with us. I can’t even put into phrases how a lot she is missed.”
As a substitute of being apologetic, per courtroom paperwork, Dibella adopted their assertion with makes an attempt to justify the killing.
As a result of Paoli’s “obsess[ion] with actuality exhibits about serial killers,” her latest buy of a battery-powered chainsaw and a minor bruise he noticed on his mom’s hand, Dibella mentioned at his sentencing that he was satisfied that his sister meant to kill their mom.
Dibella acknowledged that he “stopped all [his] psychotropic drugs” after “attending a therapeutic church service” in 2019, main his “paranoia to get the most effective of [him],” the veteran doubled down on his delusions in courtroom.
“I consider and not using a shadow of a doubt that I saved my mom’s life that day,” Dibella concluded.
A prosecutor objected to Dibella’s statements in courtroom, per the paperwork, noting that they had been “right here for sentencing, to not disparage the sufferer of an intentional wicked homicide, right here.”
Decide David Renzi admonished Dibella earlier than handing down his sentence.
“I used to be very accustomed to points that might probably be a psychological well being protection – these, in fact, had been negated if you entered a responsible plea to homicide within the second diploma,” Renzi famous. “Once we mentioned that plea, you made it very clear to me that you simply deliberately brought on the loss of life of Wanda Paoli. You described it as unsound measures that you simply took. Effectively, it’s greater than that. You made a selection… to kill anyone.”
Supply hyperlink
