A lawyer representing Brian Laundrie’s parents is fighting a request to disclose his communications with their son, who committed suicide after killing Gabby Petito, Fox News reports.
In court papers filed Thursday, Steve Bertolino argued that the request by Petito’s parents, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, would violate attorney-client privilege.
“Plaintiffs’ Motion is procedurally non-compliant and substantively non-meritorious,” an attorney for Bertolino wrote in the court filing, according to Fox News.
“Plaintiffs set forth arguments that, if accepted by this Court, would severely compromise the attorney-client privilege that exists between countless clients and their chosen legal counsel.”
The request for Bertolino’s communications was made as part of a lawsuit brought by Gabby Petito’s parents that alleges Laundrie’s parents inflicted emotional distress on the Petito family after she went missing. The suit alleges that Laundrie’s parents knew their son murdered Petito but did virtually nothing except express hope that she would be located.
Attorneys for Petito’s parents argue the communications at issue are not protected by attorney-client privilege any further because Laundrie confessed to killing Petito. Bertolino also represented Laundrie before he died.
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Petito, 22, went missing in August 2021 while on a cross-country road trip with Laundrie, 23, then her fiancé. Her remains were found at a campsite in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming on September 19, 2021. Authorities concluded that she died by manual strangulation.
After murdering Petito, Laundrie is believed to have driven the van the couple was traveling in back to his parents’ home in North Port, Florida, where he arrived on September 1 alone. He refused to discuss what happened with Petito’s parents, who reported her missing to police.
Laundrie later drove to a nearby nature reserve in Florida about 10 minutes from his parents’ home, where he committed suicide. Investigators recovered what appeared to be a written confession by Laundrie that he murdered Petito.
Members of the Laundrie and Petito families have been questioned in depositions over the past several months as part of the case. A jury trial is scheduled for May 2024.
In a separate wrongful-death lawsuit brought by Petito’s family, Brian Laundrie’s estate agreed to pay a $3 million settlement last year.
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[Feature Photo: Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie/Instagram]
