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    Motion To Substitute Parties

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    FOX 61 Webstaff
    1) The defendant, Fotis Dulos, died on January 30, 2020 after being found unresponsive at his home two days prior. 2) His attorneys have filed a motion to substitute his estate as the defendant in his ongoing criminal case related to the disappearance of his estranged wife. 3) They argue that Dulos professed his innocence until his death and that a posthumous trial is necessary to establish his innocence and clear his name, as he was denied due process and the presumption of innocence throughout the proceedings against him.

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    Motion To Substitute Parties

    Uploaded by

    FOX 61 Webstaff
    2K views4 pages
    1) The defendant, Fotis Dulos, died on January 30, 2020 after being found unresponsive at his home two days prior. 2) His attorneys have filed a motion to substitute his estate as the defendant in his ongoing criminal case related to the disappearance of his estranged wife. 3) They argue that Dulos professed his innocence until his death and that a posthumous trial is necessary to establish his innocence and clear his name, as he was denied due process and the presumption of innocence throughout the proceedings against him.

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    Motion to Substitute Parties

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    Motion to Substitute Parties

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    1) The defendant, Fotis Dulos, died on January 30, 2020 after being found unresponsive at his home two days prior. 2) His attorneys have filed a motion to substitute his estate as the defendant in his ongoing criminal case related to the disappearance of his estranged wife. 3) They argue that Dulos professed his innocence until his death and that a posthumous trial is necessary to establish his innocence and clear his name, as he was denied due process and the presumption of innocence throughout the proceedings against him.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    2K views4 pages

    Motion To Substitute Parties

    Uploaded by

    FOX 61 Webstaff
    1) The defendant, Fotis Dulos, died on January 30, 2020 after being found unresponsive at his home two days prior. 2) His attorneys have filed a motion to substitute his estate as the defendant in his ongoing criminal case related to the disappearance of his estranged wife. 3) They argue that Dulos professed his innocence until his death and that a posthumous trial is necessary to establish his innocence and clear his name, as he was denied due process and the presumption of innocence throughout the proceedings against him.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 4

    DKT. NO.

    FST-CR20-0241180-T : SUPERIOR COURT


    :
    STATE OF CONNECTICUT : J.D. of STAMFORD
    : AT STAMFORD
    :
    V. :
    :
    FOTIS DULOS : JANUARY 30, 2020

    MOTION TO SUBSTITUTE PARTY

    The undersigned hereby respectfully move the Court for permission to substitute

    the party in the above docket number.

    On January 28, 2020, law enforcement officers found the defendant, Mr. Fotis

    Dulos, unresponsive at his home in Farmington, Connecticut. They revived him, and he

    was subsequently transported to Jacobi Medical Center in New York City, New York,

    where he was admitted in critical condition.

    Mr. Dulos was declared dead at approximately 5:32 PM on January 30, 2020.

    As news of the tragic circumstances under which Mr. Dulos became unresponsive

    spread, people across the world began to rehash and emphasize the infamous and

    heinous allegations against Mr. Dulos. Throughout the course of this case, the State has

    painted Mr. Dulos as a diabolical murderer while failing to bring a murder charge for

    months. The media and the public across the world joined the State in its portrayal of Mr.

    Dulos as a murderer with the frenetic bloodlust of an outraged lynch mob. The State, the

    media, and the public waited with bated breath to see if Mr. Dulos had left a note

    confessing to the murder of his estranged wife.

    Mr. Dulos left no such note. Instead, upon information and belief, Mr. Dulos left a

    note proclaiming his innocence and claiming that his attorneys have evidence that will

    exonerate him.
    Throughout the course of this proceeding, Mr. Dulos has been denied his rights to

    due process, free speech, and the presumption of innocence. The State will undoubtedly

    seek to drop the charges against Mr. Dulos. However, the principles of due process and

    the presumption of innocence under both the federal and the state constitutions demand

    a different result.

    Mr. Dulos professed his innocence to the grave, and it was his final wish and the

    wish of his estate that he be speedily tried before a jury of his peers to establish his

    innocence before the world. The State has made an accusation. The public at large has

    convicted Mr. Dulos without the due process and the other protections that he was entitled

    to by law. Mr. Dulos’ right to confront these charges and to assert his innocence does not

    die with him. The Court should afford his estate an opportunity to clear his name.

    Posthumous trials are not novel suggestions. In 1993, American prospector,

    lawman, and outlaw Henry Plummer was given a posthumous trial more than 120 years

    after his death by summary lynching, which resulted in his acquittal by a hung jury.

    Another notable posthumous trial came in the matter of Joan of Arc. In both Plummer’s

    case and Joan of Arc’s case, the extraordinary remedy of a posthumous trial became

    necessary because of the infirmities that dictated the course of the proceedings.

    The systematic violation of Mr. Dulos’ rights has resulted in the summary end of

    his life. Those violations have denied Mr. Dulos justice. His estate respectfully requests

    the Court to grant Mr. Dulos the justice of a posthumous trial not just for the sake of his

    own name, but also for the sake of his children who he loved more than words could

    express and who he was barred from expressing his love to because of the Court’s

    protective orders. Mr. Dulos’ children should not be subjected to a lifetime of coping with
    a fictional reality that their father murdered their mother in cold blood on the basis of

    baseless and rampant speculation. They deserve just answers achieved through just

    processes even if those just answers do not satisfy the public’s bloodlust for tabloid

    fodder.

    Consequently, the undersigned respectfully requests the Court to allow Mr. Dulos’

    estate to be substituted for Mr. Dulos in this matter.

    The Defendant, Fotis Dulos

    BY: /S/ NORMAN A. PATTIS /S/


    /S/ KEVIN SMITH /S/
    /S/ ZACHARY REILAND /S/
    /S/ CHRISTOPHER LA TRONICA /S/
    Cameron L. Atkinson, Certified Legal
    Intern
    His Attorneys
    PATTIS & SMITH, LLC
    383 Orange Street, First Floor
    New Haven, CT 06511
    V: 203-393-3017
    F: 203-393-9745
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    CERTIFICATION

    This is to certify that a copy of the Defendant’s foregoing motion was sent via Fax

    and U.S. Mail on the above date to the following counsel of record:

    Richard Colangelo
    State’s Attorney
    Office of the State’s Attorney
    123 Hoyt Street
    Stamford, CT 06905
    Tel: 203-965-5215
    Fax: 203-965-5791

    /S/ NORMAN A PATTIS /S/

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