I am writing this blog article for two reasons. First, there is tremendous interest in the Jennifer Dulos case and I wanted to provide some useful information about the case. Secondly, I wanted to use this case as a teaching example about how the crime of conspiracy is a powerful tool that the state uses to get convictions in situations where the state would otherwise never have enough evidence to get a conviction for the actual crime. Often the state can get a conviction for conspiracy to commit a crime where it lacks the evidence to prove who actually committed the crime. Conspiracy is a powerful weapon that the state can employ to crack cases and get convictions and get co-defendants to start to cooperate with the state. The threat of conspiracy charges is often used to get suspects to talk to investigators and provide useful information. Anyone who is a subject in a conspiracy investigation should retain the services of an experienced criminal defense attorney and refuse to answer any questions.
The Dulos Case
Everyone knows that Fotis Dolus was charged with the murder of his estranged wife Jennifer Dulos. Fotis Dulos committed suicide and we will never see him brought to trial. Many people have commented on social media that this may prevent the prosecution of the co-conspirators. This is not accurate. The State does not need to have Fotis Dulos in order to prosecute and convict the co-conspirators. In fact, if Fotis Dulos remained alive it would have been entirely possible for him to have been acquitted of the murder of Jennifer Dulos and the co-defendant’s to be convicted of conspiracy to commit her murder. In this blog, we are going to have a brief discussion of the law of conspiracy and why conspiracy is often a much easier case for the state to prove than the crime itself.