What to Know
- Fotis Dulos is the estranged husband of Jennifer Dulos, who has been missing since May 24. Police have said they do not believe she's alive.
- The couple was in the midst of a divorce and custody battle at the time of Jennifer's disappearance.
- Fotis is facing criminal charges in her disappearance and a civil case from his father-in-law's estate.
Attorney Norm Pattis said his client, Fotis Dulos, has obtained compelling evidence that Jennifer Dulos may still be alive: a medical bill dated after she disappeared.
The new revelation was part of a four-page motion filed in Stamford Superior Court Friday. In it, Pattis revealed that Fotis obtained one of Jennifer Dulos’ medical bills for “reproductive” services.
“If Ms. Dulos herself did, as the bill suggests, receive medical services on July 7, 2019, she is obviously alive, if not necessarily well,” Pattis wrote in Friday’s filing.
Attorney Jim Bergenn, who is not affiliated with the case, points out the service may not have taken place after Jennifer disappeared on May 24.
“You could date when you send out a report as a service. So, that doesn’t necessarily mean that she got her service on that date,” said Bergenn, a trial attorney and Partner at Shipman & Goodwin law firm.
In previous court documents, prosecutors have said Jennifer is the victim of a serious assault and no longer believe she is alive. Pattis has purported that Jennifer may have faked her own death.
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The estranged couple was locked in a bitter divorce and custody battle before Jennifer’s disappearance in May.
“The defendant seeks the medical records to evaluate whether Ms. Dulos alarmed by her diagnosis, took steps to cause her own disappearance in such a way as to raise suspicions about Mr. Dulos,” Pattis wrote.
Bergenn said a judge normally would not agree to make medical records part of a court case.
“Absolutely not. No judge is going to give private records of one estranged spouse to another. But here, someone is being charged publicly although not charged criminally, with being a killer and he does have due process rights and a right to counsel. And so, he has to be able to defend himself,” Bergenn explained.
In a civil case, Jennifer’s mother, Gloria Farber, is seeking to get back the millions of dollars she alleges her late husband lent to Fotis for his business and the mortgage of his home.
This week a judge ruled that her attorney will not be allowed to subpoena Pattis to provide the source of Fotis’ attorneys’ fees.
Bergenn said ethical standards prohibit that type of information from being shared without a client’s permission.
“Anything that’s relating at all to his representation is just off grounds,” said Bergenn.
Farber’s attorney, Richard Weinstein, also filed a new motion to depose Fotis’ girlfriend, Michelle Troconis again, to find out what role she had in Fotis’ company, the Fore Group. While the details of her 90 minute deposition last month are have not been made public, Bergenn said a second deposition often means the person claimed the fifth, but that does not indicate guilt.
“Most lawyers will advise clients liberally to claim the fifth because you can’t always predict how an answer might someday be used,” said Bergenn.
Troconis’ attorney has filed an objection to the motion to compel her to testify again and asked the court to seal her deposition.
Both she and Dulos have pled not guilty to evidence tampering and hindering prosecution.
