The case against a Connecticut man accused of killing his wife effectively ended Tuesday, his lawyers told CNN.
Fotis Dulos died in late January before an emergency bond hearing in late January, after an apparent suicide attempt.
"This was not the ending we anticipated, in the form we hoped," Norm Pattis said in a press conference outside of court. "We hoped fully well to stand in front of you someday with the charges against Mr. Dulos ended by way of an acquittal."
The state's attorney chose not to continue prosecuting the case against Dulos, who had been charged with murder, felony murder and kidnapping in connection to his missing wife, Jennifer Farber Dulos. Dulos's former attorney and an ex-girlfriend were also charged in connection to her disappearance.
Pattis argued in court today for the case to remain open, positing that Farber Dulos had been killed by a third party. He argued that Dulos had only disposed of evidence related to the case after discovering it on his property and becoming "panicked."
"While he may have had suspicions about what that debris was, he did not, in fact, knowingly dispose of items associated with a pending investigation," Pattis said.
The day Farber Dulos went missing, surveillance cameras captured someone matching the description of her estranged husband getting out of his truck and putting "multiple garage bags into various trash receptacles" in the Hartford area, authorities said. Detectives later recovered clothing and household goods from trash receptacles with Jennifer Dulos' blood on it.
Fotis Dulos is arraigned on murder and kidnapping charges in Stamford, Connecticut, on January 8, 2020. He died of an apparent suicide attempt on January 30.
The case against Dulos will be officially dismissed in about a year, unless the state decides to reopen it. The state's attorney's office did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.
The cases against Dulos's ex-girlfriend Michelle Troconis and attorney Kent Mawhinney are still pending.
"Out of respect for the fair trial rights of these individuals we will have no further comment on the underlying factual allegations," Pattis said.
Pattis said that Dulos's legal team had "healing to do" after unexpectedly losing their client. Dulos's counsel will ask his estate for permission to appeal the decision, he added.
"Mr. Dulos's memory remains stained by these scandalous accusations and we'd like a chance to raise them in an open court," Pattis said. "Whether we get that chance is an open question and remains to be seen."
Dulos and Farber Dulos, a 50-year-old mother of five, were in the midst of a bitter divorce and custody battle when she vanished in May 2019. One week later, Dulos and his then-girlfriend Michelle Troconis were charged with tampering with or fabricating evidence. They pleaded not guilty.
Dulos was charged with murder and kidnapping in January. He was out on $6 million bond when he failed to appear for an emergency bond hearing on January 28. The bond hearing was set after one of the properties used to secure his bond was found to be in foreclosure and didn't meet the bond requirement set by the court.
Authorities went to his home in Farmington, Connecticut, and found Dulos in "dire" condition, his attorney said. He was eventually taken to a New York hospital, where he died on January 30.
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