Jury Selection Re-Starts In Richard Dabate Murder Trial

ELLINGTON/VERNON, CT — The murder trial of Richard Dabate — the man accused of killing his wife more than six years ago in a staged home invasion in Ellington — re-started Monday at Rockville Superior Court with a fresh round of jury selection.

Selection was suspended in March 2020 because of coronavirus-related restrictions at the courthouse.

The 45-year-old Dabate has been free on a $1 million bond throughout the case.

A clerk at the courthouse said that the entire month of March has been set aside for jury selection with evidence tentatively slated to be presented in early April. The jury will consist of 12 main members and four alternates, the clerk said.

Judge Corinne Klatt will be presiding.

Dabate was arrested in April 2017. His original lawyer in the case was Hubert Santos, but Santos died unexpectedly in June 2021. Dabate is now being defended by Michael Fitzpatrick and Trent LaLima, records show. In addition to murder, Dabate is facing charges of evidence tampering and delivering a false statement.

The case itself dates back to two days before Christmas in 2015, when 39-year-old Connie Dabate was found dead at the couple's Ellington home. The warrant by which Richard Dabate was charged with murder reads like a Hollywood script with an alleged home invasion gone haywire.

A 50-page warrant not only accuses Richard Dabate of having an affair with another woman, but getting the girlfriend pregnant and then scripting an involved story that included him being tied to a chair with an intruder "manhandling" him before shooting his wife.

State police did not agree with Dabate's account of what happened and, after what they called a "long and exhaustive" investigation, arrested Dabate several months later, according to a warrant.

See the full story on Richard Dabate's arrest, including details on the arrest warrant, here.