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
npattis@pattisandsmith.com
ksmith@pattisandsmith.com
zreiland@pattisandsmith.com
clatronica@pattisandsmith.com
 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/