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18 ■ JUNE 28, 2021 NEWS

‘He Had a Gift’: Connecticut Attorney

Hubert Santos Has Died

By Robert Storace

egarded as one of the state’s best criminal
defense attorneys and a mentor to many, Hart-
Rford attorney Hubert Santos died Monday.
Santos died soon after he was hospitalized. He was
76 years old.
Friends said the attorney had been in poor health
over the past few years, and had had one of his legs
amputated. But the cause of death wasn’t clear at
press time.
Those who worked with him and or knew him
well said Santos epitomized a great criminal defense
attorney.
He at one time represented the former mayors of
Hartford and Waterbury on corruption charges, and
defended Michael Skakel, a cousin to the famous
Kennedy family that included a president. Skakel
was accused of killing a neighbor when he was 15
years old. Hartford criminal defense attorney Hubert Santos died
‘The best at what he did’ Monday at 76. Courtesy photo
Friends and colleagues said Santos was an attor- a conclusion that he wanted, but that they also be-
ney fiercely dedicated to his clients, and who worked lieved was the right thing.”
magic in the courtroom. LaLima, who worked with Santos for eight years
“How good was he? He did not use the biggest including the last two as partner, said his friend,
words, but he was the best at what he did, because peer and mentor “had an impact on criminal law
he could size people up and, most importantly, read that is unsurpassed.”
people,” said Trent LaLima, Santos’ law partner at LaLima also said he’d learn a lot about life and
Santos & LaLima. “He knew how to talk to people, the law while driving with Santos—a former public
including witnesses and jurors. He’d use down-to- defender and then criminal defense attorney since
earth, normal language that was extremely effective.” 1974—to and from courthouses in the state.
Willie Dow III, who knew Santos since 1974, said “The biggest thing were the car rides,” LaLima
he was “a lawyer that everyone envied and admired.” said. “We’d often drive together to court, just the two
It was Santos’ ability to communicate with jurors, of us in the car often times for an hour or so each
witnesses, peers and friends that made him stand way. He’d tell stories and give advice. Sometimes the
out, said Dow of Jacobs & Dow in New Haven. stories were educational and sometimes they were
“He talked in a language you understood with- just funny, but I always learned something.”
out talking down to you,” Dow said Thursday. “It Fellow defense attorney Richard Brown of Brown
was never like ‘I am a lawyer and do what I say.’ He Paindiris & Scott in Hartford, was a member, along
never talked that way. He had a gift for presenting with Santos, of the prestigious American College of
a situation in court that allowed people to come to Trial Lawyers.

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