Gag order appeal dismissed in Jennifer Dulos case

STAMFORD — Attorney Norm Pattis is considering taking his appeal of a gag order in the Jennifer Dulos case to the U.S. Supreme Court after the state justices have dismissed his argument.

The state Supreme Court dismissed the appeal late Wednesday without issuing any reasoning for its decision. The decision came after both sides submitted briefs about why the appeal should still be considered since Fotis Dulos died last month from an apparent suicide.

“The gag order remains a repulsive stain on the state’s constitutional terrain,” Pattis said Thursday. “The court’s decision to use Mr. Dulos’ death as a pretext for avoiding the issue is chilling.”

Pattis represented Fotis Dulos in the murder and other charges in connection with the May 24 death and disappearance of his estranged wife.

Pattis filed the appeal in October, seeking a state Supreme Court ruling on the gag order imposed by Stamford Superior Court Judge John Blawie in the criminal cases against his client.

Attorneys on both sides had until Tuesday to file a five-page memoranda with the court stating their positions on whether the appeal should be dismissed.

In his filing, Pattis said even though his client is dead, “the gag order still applies to Mr. Dulos’ counsel and the other defendants charged in connection with Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance.”

Pattis said Fotis Dulos’ estate has “a liberty interest in his legacy that public speculation tarnishes while a gag order silences his advocates and family. The court can still grant practical relief through the disposition of Mr. Dulos’ appeal.”

Pattis is hoping to mount a defense posthumously to clear his client’s name in accordance with the wishes of his family, he said. The gag order would continue to hamper their efforts, Pattis said.

But Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Scheinblum, who represented the state in the appeal, said the case before the Supreme Court was “moot” since Fotis Dulos has died.

Scheinblum contended there would be no available remedy if the state’s highest court struck down the gag order since Fotis Dulos is dead. The others whose speech was curtailed by the gag order also have no remedy since it will expire when the charges against Dulos are likely dropped next week, Scheinblum said.

Scheinblum said Pattis’ argument about the appeal’s effect on other high-profile cases has no bearing since appeals of any future gag orders can be filed.

The order in the Dulos case has banned police, attorneys and witnesses involved in the investigation into the death and disappearance of the New Canaan mother from speaking publicly about the case.

The appeal was argued before the state Supreme Court in December — about three weeks before Fotis Dulos was charged with the murder of his estranged wife.

Scheinblum went along with the appeal in the hopes that the justices would set precedent for future gag orders, which are rare in Connecticut criminal courts.

Scheinblum, however, argued against lifting the order in a brief filed with the high court and during oral arguments in December.

Fotis Dulos and his girlfriend Michelle Troconis were each charged last year with two counts of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. Fotis Dulos was additionally charged with murder, felony murder and first-degree kidnapping on Jan. 7, while Troconis and his friend and former attorney, Kent Mawhinney, were each charged with conspiracy to commit murder on that day.

Pattis contended that the order favored Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo, the lead prosecutor in the case, since arrest warrants detailing police beliefs of how the disappearance and death occurred were public documents.

Colangelo sought the gag order after Pattis floated theories to the media that Jennifer Dulos may have disappeared like the main character in the novel “Gone Girl,” to get back at her estranged husband as the two were involved in an acrimonious two-year divorce.

Blawie wrote in his order that “pervasive information or misinformation in the social media age” could prevent a fair trial in this type of high-profile case.

The 35-page warrant for his arrest on murder charges details the exhaustive investigation into the disappearance and likely death of Jennifer Dulos at the hands of her estranged husband.

Police believe Fotis Dulos was “lying in wait” for his estranged wife when she returned to her New Canaan home after dropping their children off at school the morning of May 24.