attorneys' contention that a detective improperly sought a specific judge to sign search warrants, allowing officers to scour the FEMA trailer in Lakeview he occupied as his marriage was coming to an end. It was through one of those warrants that a detective found the 14-point murder checklist that prosecutors said Marinello wrote in planning his wife's murder. As he did in his trial, Marinello says in the appeal he wrote the list after the homicide, knowing he was a suspect and planning to address the issue with his friend, then-Sheriff Harry Lee.

Clark, of the district attorney's office, said Marinello's testimony confirmed "key pieces of prosecution evidence," including that he wrote the checklist. "Otherwise, his testimony was self-serving, riddled with convenient recollections (and) memory lapses and riddled withjustice rather than convictions," and that the prosecutor engaged in "a vicious attack" in questioning him about the mafia. The prosecutors provided no evidence that Marinello had mob ties, he wrote.

"Yet, the prosecutor attempted to compare Mr. Marinello to reputed 'Mafia' boss John Gotti," Marinello wrote. "Why? Because the state's circumstantial case was weak and the prosecutor knew that if he didn't pull out all stops, Mr. Marinello would be acquitted."

Marinello also takes issue with witnesses who testified against him, including David Selmo, a handyman hired to repair his ex-wife's Lakeview home who was out for his "15 minutes of fame" when he testified about a conversation they had in which Marinello asked about weapons and murder.

Marinello also attacked testimony from Lauren White, who testified that she saw