Silver Alert CT- Jennifer Dulos, 50, New Canaan, 24 May 2019 #11 *ARRESTS*

[gitana1]

Ok, so FD now has the report and he gives it to Atty Pattis who then uses its contents to get a reporter who is threatening to write a kill article about his client to back down. Where to start. Guess I will start with Pattis asking himself the simple question of "Should I have access to this report" and then perhaps "Should I discuss this report and its contents with a reporter"? Pattis has taken a sealed document from Family Court and used it to defend his client in a criminal case and then disclosed the contents to a reporter. Sure Pattis stopped talking about the report when he was contacted by GF atty but by then the damage had been done IMO.

The other issue that is puzzling is that the report didn't seem to be complete and it was unclear why the person (presumed to be a DR.) would be unable to present the report findings to the court or couldn't be recognized by the court (odd wording that I didn't fully understand). So I wonder why was what looks to be a draft report kicking around between the person that prepared the report or was working on it, the GAL and FD atty? Did JD atty have equal access to what looks to be unfinished work product? I can't say that I fully understand what state the draft was in but why was it seeming to be passed around in unfinished form? To me this makes it even more irresponsbile of Pattis for disclosing it to the public. Confused.

Pattis is an opportunist and his antics, approved by his client, show total disregard for the poor kids in this case.

How the report was released (where are we getting that it's a partial report?) is beyond me and if it wasn't supposed to be released and the GAL did so, but only to dad's attorney, that's a problem.

I had a case recently where minor's counsel (what we use in family court like GAL's), and opposing counsel are good friends.

Minor's counsel lied about what the child's therapist stated. She advocated a reversal of custody to the immature and bully of a father.

Thank God the judge refused to follow her recommendation. Even though minor's counsel is very well respected.

It was baffling to me.

I've also been blocked trying to get the transcript of the hearing so we can send it to the therapist who can then file a complaint for lying about what she said.

Somehow my request is never answered.

I would make a bigger deal of it if the client wanted me to.

Happily this kind of thing is rare IMO. But there might be an issue in this case.

Strangely, though, it is the GAL who asked for them hearing about the report and who has been cautious about recommending anything other than supervised visitation at present. So
If he's colluded with dad it doesn't seem like it.

None of this has to do with the judge, however.

 

[Bulldogs2]

No. It's simply state contempt of court.

But it's troubling that mom's counsel says the GAL wasn't supposed to release the report to either attorney. Sometimes that's the case and they're just read in court at a sealed hearing. But typically in my state the attorneys receive a hard copy unless it's en emergency investigation.

I worked for a family law Atty in CT and we had a case with psychological evals. I do t remember the client getting a copy only the Atty

 

[gitana1]

Yep it burns me up to see people bashing this judge, This judge is not presiding over a murder trial!

Yeah I'm really not sure why it keeps happening.

 

[Tink56]

No. It's simply state contempt of court.

But it's troubling that mom's counsel says the GAL wasn't supposed to release the report to either attorney. Sometimes that's the case and they're just read in court at a sealed hearing. But typically in my state the attorneys receive a hard copy unless it's en emergency investigation.

DBM...Just saw the answer to my question in your post...Sorry!

 

[ab01]

Yeah I'm really not sure why it keeps happening.

Me either!

It's almost like misplaced anger IMO

 

[kimch33kim]

Night post in remembrance of JD. Thought I would post this new pic of Jennifer. Sorry if someone posted it already I may have skimmed past it by accident.

 

[afitzy]

Th

Good questions.

First of all, has Pattis even substituted in on the family law case? He would have to, in order to appear. What a creep. He's just using the family law case o grandstand and create a defense, at the expense of the poor kids in this case.

Someone else said grandma sought custody in probate court. Can someone provide a link? Since there's a family law case active that should be the proper jurisdiction for custody, via a motion to intervene, which is clearly before the family law judge. Not the probate court.

In CA guardianships of kids take place through probate court. I'm not sure about CT. But typically that's only when either parent is unavailable or incapable of caring for the kids. She could have possibly done so when he was incarcerated. Does anyone have some evidence of a probate court case?

I'm not sure about the strength of grandparent rights in CT.

It seems the kids have a team of people - the GAL, mom's counsel, grandma, and the judge, who have concerns about FD and he has already been determined to be a risk to the welfare of the kids. So that could help.

What I've found for CT law shows grandparent rights may not be as liberal as in CA. For example, here they have standing to open a custody case (guardianship). In CT it looks like they don't. But they can intervene if one is already open. (Like here, with the divorce action).

They can, however, open a case for mere visitation rights.

In CT, a grandparent may be able to seek custody if they can pass a theee pronged test via a case called Fish:

1. That they have a parent-like relationship with the child. That could be hard to prove here.
2. That it would be detrimental to remain in the parents' custody.
3. That it would be in the child's best interest to be in the care of the grandparent.

I think grandma succeeds with 2 and 3.

More at link:

https://www.jud.ct.gov/lawlib/Notebooks/Pathfinders/RightsofGrandparents/Grandparent.pdf

Thank you for this information. It is hard to get information about Probate court cases but I will see what I can search out that can be posted. Probate hears cases that are oftentimes sensitive and highly confidential so documents and cases can be sealed. Also, probate courts are typically small and some towns even have their own probate courts (New Canaan is lumped with Darien into PD52).
Here is main link Pages - Welcome and
here is the link for Childrens Matters Children's Matters

I am not sure all cases handled by Probate are in the online case lookup as the only 2 options are Trusts and Decedents Estate. Will have to research how to get more info on other matters not in these 2 categories.

Here is FAQ on Guardianship: http://www.ctprobate.gov/Documents/User Guide - Guardians of Minors.pdf

 

[gitana1]

I understand your procedural POV on this situation but am struggling to understand why a stronger statement wasn't made by the Judge to express displeasure that a sensitive and confidential document (which didn't appear to even be in final form) was not only mishandled but misused (kindest words I can think of at the moment) by various officers of the court. I believe this misuse of a report deserved a response from the court that was way beyond a procedural alteration and then we go back to business as usual approach that we saw in court today.

Its almost that Judge Heller couldn't be bothered to expend a bit of emotional energy to express just a tad bit of outrage about the situation similar to that outrage which was expressed by JD atty in court today. It was as if she were saying, "oh well, these things happen, lets just get all the reports back in the right spot, make sure the files are in order, by the way you can only take notes but not the report and BTW keep the GAL in the loop so he can bill some hours too and then finally lets keep things moving along here". Wonder if she would feel that way if it were her psych report or her husbands or her children that was treated in this manner?

I realize @gitana1 explained that Family Court judges come from all walks of the law and this is the way things work but I can't help but thinking that this commerical litigator is not yet in the league to handle this particular case based simply on experience with Family Law matters and that perhaps more experienced hands are required due to the complexity of the case and what is no doubt coming down the pike with regards to custody battle involving a grandparent vs a father. Judge Heller seems at times uncertain and tentative and possibly not in control of her courtroom and its participants and it appears things started going off the rails with the various motions filed. We shall see how this all shakes out on the 15th with the next hearing. I also believe that this case is showing up the many shortcomings and limitations of Family Court in CT and that if you haven't experienced it first hand its hard to believe that some of what we have seen happen is actually just a typical day for these judges that get 8 year appointments with very limited renewal reviews so far as I can tell. MOO

Family court isn't the place for a judge to entertain the public, satisfy the public's urge to display outrage, or to deal with issues properly in another court.

As to her not yet being in the league to handle this case and as to your impression that she is not handling it well and it's out of control, I completely disagree.

I do experience family law courts firsthand. Every week.

I have not seen one decision this judge has made that has been improper, outrageous, or demonstrating a lack of experience.

Heller has been a superior court judge since 2012 and has been a family law judge since at least 2014 (when a decision she issued was mentioned, in a post I found).

That's absolutely enough time to be considered an experienced family law judge. She is not inexperienced. Period.

I have no dog in this fight. Judges make me mad on a regular basis and I don't personally know Heller or have any reason to defend her.

However, with respect, I feel the repeated criticisms against her are unfounded, a result of a lack of knowledge of the court system and as much as I love you and your posts on other topics, I think this criticism details the threads.

 

[gitana1]

I worked for a family law Atty in CT and we had a case with psychological evals. I do t remember the client getting a copy only the Atty

Yes. The client doesn't get a copy unless they become or are their own attorney.

But apparently in this case no one was supposed to get a copy because mom's attorney is asking for theGAL to be replaced due to improper release of the report.

 

[gitana1]

Night post in remembrance of JD. Thought I would post this new pic of Jennifer. Sorry if someone posted it already I may have skimmed past it by accident.

I hadn't seen it. She looks like a beautiful and sweet lady.

 

[afitzy]

Me either!

It's almost like misplaced anger IMO

I think that some what you might be interpreting as misplaced anger directed at a specific judge is rather a general disgust with an antiquated and dysfunctional Family Court system here in CT. The issues in CT Family Court are longstanding in nature and well documented in a variety of sources on both sides of virtually every issue. I think every time one of these cases such as JD vs FD shines the light on how things work in CT and basic issues about GAL pay etc. that the outrage and general disgust grows but then time passes that people forget or don't care and sadly things never change in CT.

Most people unless they are impacted by Family Court don't pay it much attention. Judges slip into the system by appointment and get an appointment for 8 years with little to no review for renewal in most cases. This entire process of appointments only puts in place a system that is closed and tightly controlled from within.

Judge Heller is just one of many who is a cog in a wheel of a machine that doesn't always work to serve the needs to children IMO. JD Atty expressed outrage today in court about the report and the rest of the atty's present just seemed to yawn. Oh well...

Having watched many Judges (admittedly not Family Court!) over the years I just put in my 2 cents to say that so far the Judge here seems tentative and uncertain and I'm not certain she has command of her court room or this case and she certainly didn't know what had happened to allow a partially finished sealed report to be leaked. All fingers so far point back to the GAL as being the culprit in the distribution of the report and if that is proven in the next hearing then I hope his services are terminated and he is replaced.

I respect the POV of people that deal with Family Court weekly like @gitana1 but for those of us that don't see this process in action and are used to other courts that operate very differently then its more than a bit shocking at times IMO! I'm done on this topic for now and sorry to have bored or annoyed folks but I've now actually found something to agree with Atty Pattis on as some of his blog posts on Family Court and GAL appointments are things I wish more in CT understood!

 

[gitana1]

Th


Thank you for this information. It is hard to get information about Probate court cases but I will see what I can search out that can be posted. Probate hears cases that are oftentimes sensitive and highly confidential so documents and cases can be sealed. Also, probate courts are typically small and some towns even have their own probate courts (New Canaan is lumped with Darien into PD52).
Here is main link Pages - Welcome and
here is the link for Childrens Matters Children's Matters

I am not sure all cases handled by Probate are in the online case lookup as the only 2 options are Trusts and Decedents Estate. Will have to research how to get more info on other matters not in these 2 categories.

Here is FAQ on Guardianship: http://www.ctprobate.gov/Documents/User Guide - Guardians of Minors.pdf

Thanks. Yeah similar to my state.

But where did we get info that she filed a case in probate court? Where did that information come from?

I'm trying to keep things clear.

 

[gitana1]

I think that some what you might be interpreting as misplaced anger directed at a specific judge is rather a general disgust with an antiquated and dysfunctional Family Court system here in CT. The issues in CT Family Court are longstanding in nature and well documented in a variety of sources on both sides of virtually every issue. I think every time one of these cases such as JD vs FD shines the light on how things work in CT and basic issues about GAL pay etc. that the outrage and general disgust grows but then time passes that people forget or don't care and sadly things never change in CT.

Most people unless they are impacted by Family Court don't pay it much attention. Judges slip into the system by appointment and get an appointment for 8 years with little to no review for renewal in most cases. This entire process of appointments only puts in place a system that is closed and tightly controlled from within.

Judge Heller is just one of many who is a cog in a wheel of a machine that doesn't always work to serve the needs to children.

Having watched many Judges (admittedly not Family Court!) over the years I just put in my 2 cents to say that so far the Judge here seems tentative and uncertain and I'm not certain she has command of her court room or this case and she certainly didn't know what had happened to allow a partially finished sealed report to be leaked. All fingers so far point back to the GAL as being the culprit in the distribution of the report and if that is proven in the next hearing then I hope his services are terminated and he is replaced.

I'm concerned about an inexperienced Judge in this case in particular given what will no doubt be happening in this case going forward on the custody/guardianship question. Few good things happen in court if a Judge isn't in control of their courtroom IMO!

She is not inexperienced. Shes just not. Not at all. She's got at least five years in family court, probably seven. And the vast majority of family law judges were not family law attorneys beforehand.

None of her decisions have seemed off to me, under the circumstances present at the time she issued them.

Every court system has issues and can do with improvement. It's hard to be perfect with such a complex system and often not enough money to staff courts, (so courts are impacted).

But I'm not seeing anything really horrible in the dissolution case at all. Except that poor Jennifer picked a vengeful monster to mate with and have kids with and so he litigated aggressively and in an underhanded manner.

Sadly, the court's cannot prevent all the consequences of mating with creeps.

 

[Lorenathered]

I have been following along but not posting as everyone has done a great job of keeping things up to date. I just wanted to throw in my worrying thoughts about why he might be going after JD's state of mind. He might be throwing out that ludicrous Gone Girl/revenge suicide theory but we all know that would never explain the evidence dump. But going with a mental state attack, then posing it as a self defense scenario, well that explains and ties it all in. If that is the angle he is going for, I hope it works as well as it did for Ms. Arias. JMO and hope I am wrong.

 

[Curious in CT]

I noticed this discrepancy as well. I wonder if he purposefully chose the language that the probation officer "knew" to make it sound like it was approved, when the PO only KNEW because he was notified by the monitor.

I assumed it was just poorly worded - the intended meaning was that the parole officer

That's what I'm thinking. It's his face, and likely jawline, that's throwing me off.

I know someone else asked if he is short. IIRC, I think he is 5'9"?

Late to replying, but I thought the EXACT SAME THING. Can you imagine if he hired a body double? A ridiculous suggestion, I know, but he just looks so different. Maybe FD and MT were heavy into drugs when this all went down. I remember when Kyle Navin appeared in court, after being in jail and out of reach of heroin for just a short period of time, and he looked so much more rested and well-fed.

 

[sds71]

At first I thought FD stopped his Botox shots
But maybe he was getting fillers and can’t afford it anymore

 

[Curious in CT]

Marissa Alter‏Verified account @MarissaAlter
JUST IN: Fotis Dulos makes first public comment in Jennifer Dulos disappearance. Says he misses his kids very much. @News12CT
I take back what I said earlier about FD looking refreshed. This video shows him to be skinny, gray and kinda disheveled. Good.

8:03 AM - 26 Jun 2019 pst

ETA: FD wearing his finest court garb

 

[SeesSeas]

Thanks. Yeah similar to my state.

But where did we get info that she filed a case in probate court? Where did that information come from?

I'm trying to keep things clear.

Re: But where did we get info that she filed a case in probate court?
Fotis Dulos pleads not guilty, posts bail as prosecutor reveals DNA evidence claiming to link him to missing wife Jennifer Farber Dulos
JUN 11, 2019 | 9:26 PM
A local probate court has granted temporary custody of the children to Farber, Dranginis said.

Fotis Dulos says his children are ‘constantly on my mind’ while his lawyer suggests ‘revenge suicide’ is behind wife’s disappearance
JUN 26, 2019 | 6:37 PM
The children are living with Farber Dulos’ mother in New York, where they have been since she went missing on May 24. The grandmother, Gloria Farber, has been seeking custody of the children through probate court.

 

[Curious in CT]

He doesn’t even look the same!
Looks so much older!
See attachment. No smiling there!

Sleep with dogs, wake up with fleas!

 

[CTGrammy]

Ok, so FD now has the report and he gives it to Atty Pattis who then uses its contents to get a reporter who is threatening to write a kill article about his client to back down. Where to start. Guess I will start with Pattis asking himself the simple question of "Should I have access to this report" and then perhaps "Should I discuss this report and its contents with a reporter"? Pattis has taken a sealed document from Family Court and used it to defend his client in a criminal case and then disclosed the contents to a reporter. Sure Pattis stopped talking about the report when he was contacted by GF atty but by then the damage had been done IMO.

The other issue that is puzzling is that the report didn't seem to be complete and it was unclear why the person (presumed to be a DR.) would be unable to present the report findings to the court or couldn't be recognized by the court (odd wording that I didn't fully understand). So I wonder why was what looks to be a draft report kicking around between the person that prepared the report or was working on it, the GAL and FD atty? Did JD atty have equal access to what looks to be unfinished work product? I can't say that I fully understand what state the draft was in but why was it seeming to be passed around in unfinished form? To me this makes it even more irresponsbile of Pattis for disclosing it to the public. Confused.

It is easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.

NP knew what he was doing.

NP knew that once the info was released, it could not be taken back.

SANCTIONS are in order.

DISMISSAL from representing FD.

FINES are in order.

BAR needs to take action.