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Steven Bertolino: Laundrie family lawyer slammed for horrible advice

The remarks made by Steven Bertolino immediately fired up Twitter users who condemned the lawyer

Brian Laundrie's family lawyer, Steven Bertolino, was branded an "idiot" by social media after he spoke to CNN's Chris Cuomo in an exclusive interview following the discovery of human remains that could possibly belong to Gabby Petito's boyfriend, who has been missing for over a month now. 

Brian Laundrie, Petito's boyfriend, has reportedly not been seen since September 14 and was confirmed 'missing' on September 17. This led police to search the nearby Carlton Reserve for Laundrie, who was named a person of interest in the death of the 22-year-old vlogger, whose remains were found at a Wyoming Park by the authorities. The case began drawing national interest after Brian returned home to Florida on September 1 without his girlfriend after a cross-country road trip. Human remains were discovered in a Florida swamp on Wednesday, October 20. The remains, which are still to be identified, were discovered shortly after Brian's father, Chris Laundrie, handed a white bag filled with Brian's items to the police. 

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"The probability is strong that it is Brian's remains, but we're going to wait for the forensic results to come in and verify that," said Steve Bertolino in a phone interview with CNN host Chris Cuomo. But that is not all that the lawyer said. As an increasing number of people started to wonder why Brian's parents had not come forward to make a statement about Petito's death or their son's disappearance, Bertolino admitted on live TV that it was on his advice. 

"They know it's been hard. But ultimately, you know, this is the advice I gave them. This is the advice they're taking, and that's on me," he said. "I'm the one who told them not to talk. That's been on me from day one. That's not on the family." He added, "Chris and Roberta will wait for the forensic identification of the human remains before making any additional comments."

'Brian Laundrie is dead thanks to you Steven Bertolino'

The remarks made by Bertolino immediately fired up Twitter users who condemned the lawyer for first giving his clients questionable advice on how best to respond to the situation and then confessing the same in an interview. "#gabbypetito #dirtylaundries #bertolino In Chris Cuomo’s interview with the idiot atty Bertolino, Bertolino said his clients didn’t speak for one reason: his advice was to remain silent. #copout #worstlawyer Charge the parents w/ obstruction," one social media user said, while another commented, "Wow wow wow mouthy Bertolino who can't close his mouth talking to Chris Cuomo #keeptalkingbertolino."

A third remarked, "And now Brian Laundrie is dead thanks to you Steven Bertolino." The next wrote, "This guy is the reason people hate lawyer." Another noted, "Wait - THEY FREAKING KNOW WHERE GABBY IS AND SHE IS MURDERED AND HER MOM IS CRYING AND DESPERATE AND HE TELLS THEM *NOT* TO TELL POLICE OR PETITO FAMILY ANYTHING? F Bertolino and F the Laundriemat."

One more added, "The whole interview was screaming guilty." A commenter tweeted, "So let me understand this…. He tells his clients to be silent and not have compassion for the Petito family members, yet wants to talk about how his clients need compassion… nahhhh." One more said, "I wonder what he’s going to do now that his career is over."

Another quipped, "Lesson: Do not hire real estate lawyer for criminal lawyer - this is where they ended up- possible dead son and most people hate the way Gabby’s parents were treated. Possible insanity plea but if body is his no chance now- Doing right is normally better then dealing with Karma." A person reacted with, "He’s given them bad advice. Several defense lawyers have said so. Plus he’s known them for 20 years… conflict of interest. He couldn’t possibly look at this objectively."

One more chimed in with, "What he should have said was, "I told them to ignore the pleas of the Petito family begging to know where Gabby was prior to LE even being involved because I am heartless person that just wants to invoke the amendment." I hope Karma pays him back for this in so many ways."