Taxpayers Will Cover Cosmetics Bill for Skinhead’s Murder Trial

By Michael Kaminer December 6, 2010

Do you like the makeup on John DiTullio’s face and neck? Hope so, because you may be paying for it. The skinhead, who goes on trial for murder today in Clearwater, Fla., will appear in court with special cosmetics covering his tattoos — including a swastika on his neck and green-tinted “scar” running from forehead to eyebrow — The New York Times reports.

Taxpayers will pick up the tab for the makeover after the court agreed with lawyer Bjorn Brunvand that the tattoos could prove “distracting or prejudicial” to jurors.

The Times reports this is Ditullio’s second trial for the murder; the first, “which also involved the services of a cosmetologist,” ended last year in a mistrial.

Chele – just Chele – the owner of the company performing the beauty treatments, will earn $125 a day; the process takes about 45 minutes, she told the Times. The cosmetologist asked the Times not to use her full name out of fear of reprisals; “we mostly do weddings,” she told the paper.

Another Florida makeup artist told a local ABC affiliate she would have simply refused the job. “As a citizen of the United States, I think I would have to say, ‘Wait a minute. He chose to do this. Why do you want to cover it up?” Clearwater-based Francee Weinfeld said. “If you’re so proud of who you are, what difference does it make?’”

DiTullio’s primping seems less extreme than Daniel Cowart’s; as the Forward reported in July, that 21-year-old white supremacist skinhead wanted his swastika tattoo surgically removed. Cowart didn’t get as lucky as DiTullio; U.S. Marshals refused his request.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO