Defense attorney Pattis goes silent

The outspoken lawyer who fought a gag order while representing Fotis Dulos to proclaim his client’s innocence now says he can no longer discuss the case publicly.

Norm Pattis often courted controversy during his representation of Fotis Dulos, who died from an apparent suicide in January after being charged with killing his estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos.

The lawyer once claimed that Jennifer Dulos may have faked her own disappearance, a la the novel “Gone Girl,” and suggested she might have perpetrated a “revenge suicide” plot.

The theories drew sharp rebukes from Jennifer Dulos’ family and friends and “Gone Girl” author Gillian Flynn. They also led to a judge issuing a gag order, which Pattis appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Later, he speculated that a medical bill sent after Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance could indicate she was still alive. But Jennifer Dulos’ family said the document was automatically generated and called Pattis’ claim “absurd,” accusing him of victim-blaming.

Now, Pattis says he can’t talk about the Dulos case — at the request of his former client’s estate.

“Fotis’ estate now controls anything related to Fotis,” Pattis said as he declined a Hearst Connecticut Media interview about the one-year anniversary of the case. “They have asked me not to comment. So I am silent.”

Christopher Hug, the Hartford-based lawyer appointed by a judge to be the temporary administrator of Dulos’ estate, did not return a message seeking comment.

According to probate court documents, Hug wants control of Dulos’ high-end real estate company to prepare its properties for sale and stop foreclosure proceedings.

Jennifer Dulos disappeared May 24, 2019,, after dropping her children off at school. Police believe Fotis Dulos attacked her in the garage of her New Canaan home.

Dulos had been under house arrest on $6 million bond after being charged with murder, felony murder and first-degree kidnapping. After being notified of an emergency bond hearing where a judge could have sent him back to jail, Dulos attempted an apparent suicide in his garage on Jan. 28. When he didn’t show up for the hearing, Farmington police conducted a welfare check and said they found him inside his running Chevy Suburban. He died two days later at a New York hospital.

In a handwritten note, Fotis Dulos said he did not kill his estranged wife and could not spend any more time in jail. Following the death, Pattis said his client’s family was “adamant that his name be cleared.”

Though the charges against Dulos were dropped, Pattis said he would seek the permission of his client’s estate to appeal the ruling.

“Mr. Dulos was tried and convicted in the court of public opinion,” Pattis said in a statement at the time. “Now he has been executed. We remain committed to demonstrating he did not murder Jennifer.”