Defense waiting for ‘smoking gun’ evidence

NEW CANAAN — Attorney Norm Pattis said Wednesday he has yet to hear if investigators have a “smoking gun” connecting his client to Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance.

But Pattis later conceded that surveillance videos of Fotis Dulos dumping garbage bags that police said contained his estranged wife’s blood “was a very awkward set of facts.”

“There is an explanation, but we’re not going to give it,” until it’s time to present it to a jury, Pattis said Wednesday afternoon. “I think when we do it, it will appear a lot less troubling.”

Pattis often appears on the New Havenbased “Chaz and A.J.” morning radio show to discuss controversial cases. He called into the show Wednesday morning to talk about a recent win in a custody case involving Russian billionaire Shalva Chigirnsky. But the discussion quickly turned to Fotis Dulos and the disappearance of his estranged wife.

Fotis Dulos, 51, and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, 44, have each pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges stemming from the Hartford video footage taken the night of the disappearance.

Pattis said he has not yet seen the videos that police say show his client and Troconis stopping 30 times on Albany Avenue in Hartford at around the same time Jennifer Dulos was reported missing.

According to arrest warrants, clothing and sponges containing Jennifer Dulos’ blood were found in the bags. The discovery led to an extensive search for more evidence that lasted three weeks at a Hartford trash plant.

Police said there were signs that Jennifer Dulos was a victim of a “serious physical assault” after blood stains and blood spatter were found in the garage of her New Canaan home. State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo also said Fotis Dulos’ DNA was found mixed with his wife’s blood on the faucet of her kitchen sink.

New Canaan police Lt. Jason Ferraro said Wednesday there was no new information to be released on the investigation.

Pattis said he has not received any of the evidence in the case aside from the arrest warrant in the public court file. He said he is waiting for photos, diagrams, police reports and other evidence gathered during the massive investigation.

“I have zero at this point,” he said.