It's unknown if lawyer's death will affect Dabate's trial

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·2 min read

Jun. 24—It isn't yet clear whether the death this week of prominent criminal defense lawyer Hubert J. Santos will result in any further delay in the trial of his client Richard Dabate, who is accused of murdering his wife Connie in their Ellington home on Dec. 23, 2015.

Santos was representing Dabate with his law partner, Trent LaLima. Asked by email Wednesday whether he would seek any further delay in the trial, LaLima replied, "The only answer I can give is I do not know if Hubert's death will have any impact, especially as right now, there is no set schedule for the Dabate trial."

Dabate was arrested on April 14, 2017, and was released five days later after posting a $1 million bond he had assembled with the help of family members. They had pieced together the equity in four pieces of real estate, including the Ellington home Dabate and his wife had shared; some $89,000 in cash contributed by his father; and $200,000 posted through a bondsman.

A bank later began foreclosure proceedings on the Ellington home, and it was sold last year. But that happened several months after Dabate got a judge's approval to replace the $260,000 he had pledged from the home's value with another bond put up by a bondsman. That change has kept him free since then.

The lawyers in the Dabate case had selected all 12 jurors and three of the four alternates required for the trial before Connecticut's courts were largely shut down in mid-March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jury trials are supposed to resume this month, but the scheduling of particular trials is up to the judges in charge of them.

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