Witness to 1996 deli shooting: Dobbs Ferry police wouldn't let me leave

By REBECCA BAKER
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original Publication: December 3, 2007)

WHITE PLAINS - A witness who saw Richard DiGuglielmo fatally shoot Charles Campbell outside his family's Dobbs Ferry deli in 1996 testified today that he felt pressure from village police to say Campbell posed no danger when he was shot.

"I kept asking to leave, and they'd say, 'Hold on a minute,'" witness James White said. "They sort of wanted me to agree with the other statements. I was not going to change my story."

The testimony by White, a 55-year-old schoolteacher now living in Florida, is the latest attempt by the DiGuglielmo family to have the conviction overturned and get a new trial for the former New York Police Department officer.

The hearing before Westchester County Judge Rory Bellantoni is to determine whether village detectives coerced witness Michael Dillon into dropping his story that DiGuglielmo was protecting his father when he shot a bat-swinging Campbell outside the Venice Deli on Oct. 3, 1996.

That was what Dillon told police and a television news reporter that night. Four days later, Dillon changed his statement, telling detectives that Campbell was backing away and no longer swinging the bat when he was shot. That was his testimony at trial as well.

Dillon testified last month that he changed his statement because he felt intimidated by police showing up at his job and taking him to police headquarters to reinterview him. Lt. James Guarnieri testified that they only talked to Dillon one more time after the night of the shooting and that he voluntarily changed his story.

Bellantoni allowed White to testify, suggesting that there was some question about Guarnieri's credibility because the lieutenant said Dillon was the only witness who gave a conflicting account. Prosecutors opposed White's appearance, saying the defense had chosen not to call him at the trial.

Neither side considered White reliable. He had brothers in law enforcement, one a Dobbs Ferry police sergeant, another a Westchester prosecutor. White testified that his father discouraged him from cooperating with defense attorneys, but said he would have testified under subpoena.