Virginia Beach man cleared of alleged plot to kill circuit judge

Frankie Dulyea

By Duane Bourne
The Virginian-Pilot

VIRGINIA BEACH - This was supposed to be the perfect plan. Frankie Dulyea, 24, said he played along as another inmate and a man he thought was a hired hitman worked out a scheme to kill Circuit Judge Patricia West.

That information, Dulyea thought, could be used to lessen a prison sentence. But, according to his attorney Gregory Turpin, this was the classic "double-double cross."

A jury deliberated three hours Thursday afternoon before acquitting Dulyea on the charge of solicitation to commit murder. The verdict ended a strange case of the Northern Virginia tattoo artist who prosecutors said was caught on tape trying to exact revenge on West for what he said was an unfair trial last year.

The man who introduced Dulyea to the hitman, Jude Franco, had planned to get enough details about a murder-for-hire plot to get consideration for a reduced sentence, Turpin said. But Franco got to police first.

During two days of testimony, special prosecutor Robert Slaughter III repeated what he considered to be the most compelling evidence against Dulyea: An audiotape conversation.

During that encounter in the attorney-client room at the city jail on Aug. 23, Dulyea met the man he thought was a bail bondsman, doubling as a professional hitman. The hitman turned out to be an undercover police officer, Detective Terry Dugan. Their meeting lasted less than a half-hour.

Dugan discussed a $2,000 cut for the job and the target.

"What you looking for, bro?" Dugan asked.

"Get something done, taken out," Dulyea said.

"To who, taken out?" Dugan replied.

"West. West. Judge West."

It was the second time police have charged someone in a jailhouse murder plot against West in the past two years. Charges in the first case were reduced to misdemeanor counts of obstruction of justice.

Turpin told jurors about Franco's role. In August, he was in custody on a fifth probation violation and wanted a way out, Turpin said.

Franco had a long history of getting into trouble with the law and working with authorities. Turpin said he tried to trick Dulyea, who had just begun a three-year sentence for trying to entice a minor to perform in sexually explicit material via the Internet.

Dulyea's week-long trial was mired by West rulings against his attorneys on a number of motions and admissible evidence.

After the trial, West found two attorneys, Claude Scialdone and Barry Taylor, in contempt of court for trying to pass off phony documents as evidence. A law clerk, Ed Jones, was held in contempt for using the phrase "West is a Nazi" on a document that was brought into court.

Prosecutors were confident that Dulyea's motive was retaliation.

But during his closing arguments, Turpin questioned why Dulyea would send a letter to his attorneys alerting them about the plot two days before the jailhouse sting. Turpin explained there were five instances during the conversation where Dulyea tried to slow down the hitman, such as giving him a bogus phone number.

"Nobody wanted to harm Judge West," Turpin said.

Dulyea cried as the verdict was read. He was escorted back into custody.