Steve Bertolino, the attorney for Gabby Petito’s killer Brian Laundrie and his family, has asked a Florida judge to block a request to force him to reveal his private conversations with the 23-year-old, who has been dead for more than two years, citing attorney-client privilege.
“Plaintiffs’ Motion is procedurally non-compliant and substantively non-meritorious,” Bertolino’s lawyer, Laura Kelly, wrote in a court filing Thursday. “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.”
Pat Reilly, the attorney for Petito’s parents, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, filed the motion to compel Bertolino to answer questions about his communications with Brian Laundrie as part of a civil lawsuit alleging that the Laundries knew about the murder before her remains were found and attempted to help their son evade justice while intentionally inflicting emotional distress on her family.
GABBY PETITO’S FAMILY PUSHES ATTORNEY TO REVEAL SECRET CHAT WITH BRIAN LAUNDRIE: COURT DOCS
If the judge were to force Bertolino to answer questions about conversations with his client, he said that it would be “catastrophic to the theory of the law which provides the basis for complete candor when clients communicate with their attorneys.”
He told Fox News Digital on Friday that there is no justification for the plaintiff’s motion to compel.
