ALFRED — The murder trial of Patrick Dapolito got under way today in York County Superior Court with the introduction of a new theory about the death of his wife.

Dapolito had initially told authorities that Kelly Winslow died on March 16, 2010, after the gun in his right hand accidentally fired. He had said that the two had been lying on the bathroom floor when gunfire awoke him and he looked over to see that Winslow, 30, had been shot in the head.

But in opening statements today, Dapolito’s defense attorney, David Van Dyke, offered a new account.

He said Dapolito began receiving threats after he’d upset his drug suppliers, got a gun, bought a Doberman, dictated his will to his wife and planned for them to move away from Maine.

On the morning of Winslow’s death, Vans Dyke said, Dapolito had gone to a store for coffee and cigarettes. When he returned, Van Dyke said, Winslow was dead and his laptop was on the bed with a warning: “We shall return.”

Assistant Attorney General Donald Macomber said in opening statements that Dapolito’s story changed sometime after a trajectory analysis indicated that the body of Winslow’s shooter would have had to have been off the floor when the gun fired.

In August 2010, the prosecutor said, Dapolito told Maine State Police that he was a drug dealer and that his wife had been the victim of a dispute between him and his suppliers.

Macomber told the jury that they must use their common sense when they evaluate Dapolito’s story. Macomber cited Dapolito’s actions – including failing to call 911, putting his wife’s body in a basement freezer before driving to his father’s property 80 miles away, and leaving his daughter alone in the house.

If the killer had been a “phantom” drug dealer, Macomber questioned, why would Dapolito have done those things?

The proscution has begun calling witnesses today.

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