Attorney for Fotis Dulos Says He Was Framed as Murder Charges Against Him Are Dropped

The murder case against Fotis Dulos officially ended Tuesday when a judge granted prosecutors' request to dismiss the charges, weeks after Dulos died.

Defense attorneys argued against closing the case and floated a new theory: that Fotis was framed for killing his estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos, who disappeared last spring after dropping their children at school.

Lawyer Norm Pattis said in court that his former client had "panicked" after finding a pile of bloody clothes on the family's porch, and said that those were the items surveillance video showed him stuffing into garbage cans.

The defense attorney said he wanted to continue the case to try to clear his client's name. The judge rejected that claim and ruled in favor of the prosecution's request.

Closing the case and dismissing the murder charges essentially acknowledges prosecuting Fotis Dulos cannot continue. The request ends the gag order placed on the case.

Jennifer Dulos, the mother of five, disappeared in May 2019.

Fotis Dulos' former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, and his friend Kent Mawhinney, are charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Jennifer's disappearance. Both have pleaded not guilty. Those charges still stand.

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