Dove Hunt

It didn't take long.

It was only Thursday, July 30, when the defense lawyer for accused Craigslist killer Thomas Coffee subpoenaed disgraced Philadelphia homicide detective Ron Dove to testify hoping to tarnish the integrity of the prosecution's case.

It was a long shot and Coffee was found guilty on Tuesday and sentenced to life in prison without parole. On Thursday, another defense lawyer in again invoked the name of Dove – if not his back-story – in an attempt to cloud the prosecution's case against a South Philadelphia man accused of shooting to death his pregnant girlfriend.

This time the lawyer was veteran criminal defense attorney Stephen P. Patrizio, representing 22-year-old Aaron Fitzpatrick, on trial before a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury for the Feb. 16, 2012 murder of Tiffany Gillespie, 24.

Fitzpatrick is accused of murdering Gillespie, and of first-degree murder of her six-month-old unborn child, who died with Gillespie. Police said Gillespie and Fitzpatrick, 24, argued after she told him he was the father of her unborn daughter -- or maybe twins – and he shot her in the head in the basement of her house in the 2300 block of S. Mildred Street.

According to Patrizio, Dove was in on the interrogation of Fitzpatrick and ordinarily would have read the statement to the jury now hearing the case against Fitzpatrick.

That won't be happening because Dove, 43, was fired two years ago and now faces obstruction of justice charges for covering up a killing allegedly committed by his girlfriend Erica Sánchez, 34.

Sánchez was arrested Oct. 16, 2013 after several weeks as a fugitive for the stabbing death that Sept. 8 of Cesar Vera, 33, with whom she lived.

Dove, who police say was having an affair with Sánchez, quickly came under suspicion and was fired in November 2013. In January, Dove was charged with hindering apprehension, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and related crimes for allegedly helping Sánchez flee to Rochester, N.Y.

As much as any defense lawyer would like to be able to let a jury know about Dove's legal problems, and argue that the veteran detective improperly handled his or her client's investigation, that also won't be happening.

Judge Steven R. Geroff ruled Thursday -– as did the judge in the Craigslist case -- that Dove's problems are not relevant to the case against Fitzpatrick and may not be mentioned to the jury. Patrizio did the best he could, telling the jury in his opening statement that they would not hear from Dove and, eliciting from a prosecution witness, homicide Detective Joseph Bamberski, that Dove was no longer employed by the Philadelphia Police Department.

For Fitzpatrick – like Coffee before him – the gambit is also a long shot. Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore told the jury that the evidence will show that, in addition to Fitzpatrick's statement, his DNA was found on the .38-caliber revolver that fired the shot that killed Gillespie and her blood was on his clothing.