Judge Chides Fotis Dulos Over Gag Order, Reminding Him It's 'Binding' After Recent Interview With Greek Blog

A judge has warned the estranged husband of missing Connecticut woman Jennifer Dulos to obey the gag order implemented in the case, calling a recent interview he did with a Greek media outlet a violation of that order. 

Prosecutor Richard Colangelo argued Friday that a recent interview in which Fotis Dulos called Jennifer mentally unstable a  “clear contradiction” of that gag order, according to the Stamford Advocate.

While one of Dulos’ lawyers, Kevin Smith, claimed his answers during that interview were cleared by counsel, Superior Court Judge John Blawie responded “There are exceptions [to the gag order]...but I don’t see how the statements about his missing estranged wife’s mental status fall under one of the exceptions.”

Then, the judge warned Dulos that his gag order is “binding.” Dulos’ defense has appealed the gag order, and the Supreme Court will hear arguments on that appeal in December.   

The order was implemented last month after Dulos and members of his legal team did several media interviews about Jennifer, who has been missing since May 24. The order applies to all parties involved in the proceedings of the case, both the prosecution and defense, including all of their respective staffs and lawyers, witnesses and all law enforcement.

Dulos' Attorney Norm Pattis, who has also represented controversial talk show host and notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, told reporters at the time the order “merely restated existing law” and "changes nothing," according to the Stamford Advocate.

Weeks later, speaking to a Greek blog called Proto Thema, Dulos said, “I'm sorry to say it, but Jennifer was suffering from serious psychological problems that I didn't immediately understand and didn't want to go into further.”

Both Dulos and his girlfriend Michelle Troconis have been charged twice with evidence tampering. Authorities allege that both took part in cleaning up evidence related to the case. Troconis pleaded not guilty Friday to the latest round. She’s due back in court on Oct. 25.

Smith tried to get charges against Dulos dismissed on Friday, calling the hindering prosecution charge unconstitutional because there isn’t a felony charge attached to it, the Stamford Advocate reports.  

“There is no construction, liberal or otherwise, that can sustain this information, because what this information charges is a hindering charge, that requires some other felony. And that is what is not present here,” he said.

Blawie said he’d review the argument and they’d speak further when Dulos is due back in court on Nov. 6.

As Dulos left the court on Friday, he told reporters, “I love my children. I miss them and I think about them all the time.”

Investigators have claimed in an arrest warrant that Dulos was "lying in wait" for his wife at her home on the day she disappeared and that the “crime and clean-up are believed to have occurred" soon after. Authorities also allege that Dulos' girlfriend, Troconis, suggested to them that “the body of Jennifer at some point was in” a truck Dulos borrowed from an employee at his real estate development company and was driving that day. Police say they recovered a "blood-like substance" containing Jennifer's DNA from one of the truck's seats, which Dulos allegedly insisted his employee replace.