Troconis attorney: Virus slowing release of evidence in Dulos case

STAMFORD — The attorney representing Michelle Troconis is considering seeking the help of the state Supreme Court to get prosecutors to turn over evidence that he contends may be key in exonerating his client in the disappearance and death of Jennifer Dulos.

“Is the only way around this by going directly to the state Supreme Court?” attorney Jon Schoenhorn asked.

But Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo, who has been prosecuting the case, said he has no access to the Stamford Superior courthouse due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m waiting to get back into the courthouse,” Colangelo said Monday. “The chief court administrator suspended all activities. I’m abiding by the orders of the Judicial Branch, we are trying to keep everyone as safe as we can.”

Schoenhorn said he is waiting for additional videos captured by the city of Hartford’s surveillance system, the complete data from his client’s cellphone records, DNA evidence and audio and video recordings of police “interrogating” Troconis about the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, who was last seen May 24, 2019

Troconis was first charged last June with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in the case. She was charged a second time with tampering with evidence in September and then with conspiracy to commit murder in early January. She is required to wear a GPS unit as a condition of her release on $2.1 million bond.

Her former boyfriend, Fotis Dulos, 52, died in January from an apparent suicide while facing murder, kidnapping and other charges in connection with the death and disappearance of his estranged wife who police contend was the victim of a “serious” assault at her New Canaan home the morning of May 24.

In a note left in his car, Fotis Dulos proclaimed he was innocent of the charges and that Troconis and his former attorney, Kent Mawhinney, who is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder, were not involved in the crime.

In March, Schoenhorn filed a series of motions to suppress evidence in the case just as the pandemic was ramping up in Connecticut.

The motions have not been presented to a judge since Chief Court Administrator Judge Patrick Carroll limited court activity to high-priority functions such as criminal arraignments to protect staff and the public from the virus.

More than 3,000 Connecticut residents have died with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, including a probation officer at the Stamford Superior Court. That courthouse and several others have been closed for several weeks.

The materials Schoenhorn is seeking are ready for distribution once the courthouse reopens, Colangelo said.

“There are other attorneys involved and they would all get copies as well,” Colangelo said. “We are still working within the parameters set out by the Judicial Branch, which is trying to keep employees and the public as safe as we can.”

As the state’s attorney for the judicial district of Stamford and Norwalk, Colangelo was the lead prosecutor in the Jennifer Dulos case. He was named chief state’s attorney on Jan. 30 — the same day Fotis Dulos died.

Part of the evidence that Schoenhorn wants suppressed is data gathered from a cellphone “tower dump” police sought in June to determine if any phones connected with Fotis and Jennifer Dulos or Troconis had been in the Hartford area the days surrounding the 50-year-old mother of five’s disappearance.

Police obtained a search warrant for the “tower dump” after discovering videos of two people who appear to be Troconis and Fotis Dulos on Albany Avenue in Hartford the night Jennifer Dulos went missing.

The videos show Fotis Dulos placing garbage bags that police say contained clothing and items stained with the blood of his estranged wife in bins along the Hartford street, arrest warrants said.

But Schoenhorn contends that he has only received two or three videos that indicate the truck the couple was in stopped three times — not 30 — as the arrest warrants state.

“I want to find out if there are more surveillance videos because I have not seen anywhere near the number of stops on the videos I have seen,” Schoenhorn said. “Either those videos are being withheld up to now or they don’t exist. If it doesn’t exist, I’ll be seeking sanctions, but I won’t know that until I get in front of a judge.”

Troconis is slated to appear in Stamford Superior Court on June 11.

According to arrest warrants, police believe Fotis Dulos attacked his estranged wife in the garage of her New Canaan home when she returned from dropping off their children at a nearby school around 8 a.m. on May 24. Her body has not been found.