HARTFORD, Conn. _ A prosecutor is seeking a gag order in the case of Fotis Dulos, the Farmington man charged in connection with the disappearance of his estranged wife, Jennifer Farber Dulos.
Stamford/Norwalk State's Attorney Richard J. Colangelo Jr. filed a motion in Superior Court on Wednesday asking a judge to issue an order barring "counsel for both sides from making an extrajudicial statement that the lawyer knows or should know will be disseminated by means of public communication and will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding in the matter."
In a memo opposing Colangelo's motion filed Wednesday afternoon, Dulos' lawyer, Norm Pattis argues that defense attorneys have the right and are obligated to make comments about the case.
"This case has generated publicity worldwide. In the few court appearances Mr. Dulos has thus far had, the gallery of the court has been filled with press, and a bank of reporters awaits the arrival and departure of the parties outside the courthouse. Mr. Dulos has not solicited this attention," Pattis wrote.
Pattis said Dulos is entitled to rebut the "claims and insinuations that he is in any way responsible for her disappearance."
Dulos and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, have pleaded not guilty to evidence tampering and hindering prosecution charges in connection with Farber Dulos' May 24 disappearance. Police allege Dulos and Troconis discarded items containing Farber Dulos' blood in trash bins in Hartford.
The charges against Dulos and Troconis stem from video surveillance footage that shows a man and woman resembling Dulos and Troconis discarding trash in bins along Albany Avenue in Hartford on May 24, the day Farber Dulos went missing, according to court records. Police have said DNA from blood found on towels, clothes and sponges retrieved from the Hartford bins matches Farber Dulos.
Sources familiar with the investigation said the video obtained from Hartford police shows the man dumping at least two garbage bags into the trash bins.
A Hartford man told The Hartford Courant that he found a knife while rummaging through the same trash cans but later traded it to another man. Sources have verified that there is video surveillance of the man reaching into the garbage can and removing items the weekend Farber Dulos disappeared. They also confirmed a statement was taken from him before state police conducted a massive search on May 31 with dogs and troopers in the Albany Avenue area.
It was not immediately clear Wednesday when a judge could rule on the motion for the gag order. Dulos is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Stamford on Friday.
Farber Dulos was first reported missing just before 7 p.m. on May 24 by two friends who said she had missed appointments in New York. The last time she had contact with one of the friends was right after she dropped off her children at the New Canaan Country Day School.
Her car was later found at Waveny Park, not far from her New Canaan home.
The couple's five children have been staying with Farber Dulos' mother, Gloria Farber, in New York City.
