Attorney: GPS prevents Troconis from attending Colorado ski competitions

The attorney representing Michelle Troconis is again seeking the state Appellate Court to help get his client’s GPS tracking device removed as she faces charges in the death and disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.

Attorney Jon Schoenhorn argued in a motion filed Wednesday that he has repeatedly pleaded his client’s innocence to Superior Court Judge John Blawie and said she is not a flight risk, but the judge has refused to remove the monitoring device.

While free on $2.1 million bond, Troconis has been allowed with court permission to travel to Colorado, where her daughter attends school. However, Schoenhorn claims the device is unable to be worn under snow boots, preventing his client from watching her daughter compete in downhill skiing. Schoenhorn also said the bracelet prevents Troconis from taking a bath and water skiing since it cannot be submerged in water.

“Despite the continuous burden these non-financial conditions place on her liberty, life, family, relationships and defense preparation, the defendant never violated a single one,” Schoenhorn said. “Her adolescent daughter goes to school in Colorado, and she has been permitted to visit her with court permission, but must remain tethered to the ankle bracelet.”

Troconis has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in the case.

She is the former girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, who died of a suicide last January while facing murder and other charges in his estranged wife’s death and disappearance. Troconis has been accused of helping Fotis Dulos after police say he attacked his estranged wife in the garage of her New Canaan home on May 24, 2019, according to arrest warrants.

Schoenhorn wants the Appellate Court to review Blawie’s recent denial on Feb. 2 and order the removal of the device. He argued the continued use of the device violates his client’s constitutional rights, including freedom from punishment while a case awaits trial.

This is the third request Schoenhorn has made seeking Appellate Court intervention. The court initially declined to become involved because Blawie had not ruled on Schoenhorn’s motion to have the device removed.

Schoenhorn asked the Appellate Court to intervene a second time when Troconis’ cases that were scheduled to be heard on Aug. 6, 2020 were moved to Oct. 1, 2020. In that case, the Appellate Court instructed Judicial Branch officials to move the hearing on the motions up to Aug. 28, 2020.

During the Aug. 28 hearing, Blawie relaxed some of the non-financial conditions of bond, allowing her to move more freely outside her home, but denied removing the GPS device.

Schoenhorn again requested that the device be removed on the grounds arrest warrants used to charge her included “omissions and inaccuracies.”

Blawie denied that motion during the court appearance earlier this month. Schoenhorn noted in Wednesday’s motion that Chief State’s Attorney Richard J. Colangelo Jr. opposes the removal of the device. Colangelo said during the Feb. 2 hearing he supported moving the device to her wrist if that was possible.

Troconis is scheduled to appear in court on March 16 as Blawie considers a number of Schoenhorn’s other motions, including two that seek to have some charges dismissed in the case.

In a motion filed last week asking to have some charges dismissed, Schoenhorn submitted excerpts of video-recorded police interviews in which Troconis denied involvement in the disappearance.

“I can spend a month with you guys. I can do whatever you want, but I didn’t do it,” Troconis told state police as she was being questioned on June 6, 2019, nearly two weeks after Jennifer Dulos vanished.

Troconis and attorney Kent Mawhinney, a longtime friend of Fotis Dulos who has also pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, are the remaining defendants in the case. Prosecutors announced during Troconis’ Feb. 2 court hearing that Mawhinney will testify against her if her cases go to trial.