Monica Sementilli may be a tramp but it doesn’t make her a killer, her legal eagles charged in their opening statement.
Sementilli, 53, is on trial in Los Angeles Superior Court for the first-degree murder of her husband, famed Toronto hair stylist Fabio Sementilli, 49, in January 2017.
Prosecutors had earlier claimed that sex and a $1.6-million insurance policy were the motives. Defence lawyer Blair Berk called the allegations “untrue.”
Instead, on Wednesday, she blamed Monica’s porn star, gym rat, and convicted sex offender paramour, Robert Baker, 62. He pleaded no contest in 2023 to first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Baker was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Monica Sementilli could face the same sentence if she is convicted as charged.
Berk described Baker as “charming” and “manipulative,” adding that it was the “most fatal mistake of her (Monica’s) life.”
“Her sexuality, her choice … to have an affair has nothing to do with wanting her husband dead,” Berk said, adding that Baker started to “formulate a plan to kill Monica’s husband.
“(She) had absolutely no reason, no desire that she would have ever wanted her husband, Fabio, to be dead.”
Berk said that Monica and Fabio were “each other’s best friends” and there was “no financial motive” as she was not the sole beneficiary on his life insurance policy. She would have been better off with Fabio alive, the lawyer added.
Instead, in the wake of her husband’s murder she “sought comfort” with Baker and had “no idea that Robert Baker had done the awful thing that he did.”
Monica had no interest in leaving her husband and told Baker so, Berk said.
Prosecutors painted a different picture during their opening remarks on Friday.
Fabio Sementilli was stabbed to death in his backyard on Jan. 23, 2017, shortly before the couple was slated to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. Cops found Baker’s blood and linked the DNA to the sometime porn actor.
That led them to Monica Sementilli. Prosecutors called her the “mastermind” of the murder.
Assistant District Attorney Beth Silverman painted a lurid picture of the alleged black widow’s double life, including kinky sex and swinging. Silverman said only Monica knew when her husband would be home alone.
The famed hairstylist — a vice president for Wella — was oblivious to his wife’s secret hormone-charged hijinks.
Silverman added that Monica sent hundreds of raunchy nude photos to Baker, including snapshots of herself swinging with other people.
Even after the murder, she and Baker carried on their torrid affair with the widow out all hours of the night. The DA said she was so attached to her lover she wrote “Mrs. Baker” in lipstick on a bathroom mirror.
“She and Baker decided Fabio was getting in the way,” Silverman said.
LAPD homicide detectives arrested the couple six months after the murder.
The mysterious third suspect, Christopher Austin, 39, was arrested in late 2024. He pleaded guilty earlier this month to second-degree murder.
Prosecutors expect him to testify against Monica in exchange for a lighter sentence.
The trial continues.
@HunterTOSun