Judge lifts Troconis’ house arrest, curfew
STAMFORD — Michelle Troconis is no longer on house arrest and she does not have a curfew, but she is still required to wear a GPS monitoring device and cannot leave Connecticut without the court’s permission, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
Troconis is facing conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges in the death and disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.
In his 15-page ruling, Stamford Superior Court Judge John Blawie said the “seriousness of the defendant’s charges cannot be understated.”
“The defendant stands accused of two serious felonies, alleging her involvement in a conspiracy to murder Jennifer Dulos,” Blawie wrote.
“Although Troconis has no prior criminal record nor any history of violence, these allegations themselves weigh heavily against complete termination of her non-financial conditions of release.”
Defense attorney Jon Schoenhorn, representing Troconis, has been trying for months to get the court to loosen the non-financial conditions of his client’s release on $2.1 million bond.
Schoenhorn contends the GPS unit is hampering his client’s ability to participate in her own defense since Judicial Branch officials know her every move.
“It appears that Judge Blawie is splitting the baby,” Schoenhorn said of the ruling. “Although I believe it is a thoughtful legal memorandum, I will continue to ask the Appellate Court to review the requirement of continued GPS monitoring. We are grateful that the court agreed that the other conditions, including curfew and house arrest should be removed, and that she is permitted to travel out of state with prior permission. But we believe there is an insufficient basis to require the ankle bracelet.”
Schoenhorn finally had a hearing on his motion to have the 24-hour GPS unit removed on Aug. 28 — after he sought help from the state Appellate Court to get his client’s court date moved up from October.
On Monday, Schoenhorn filed another motion with the Appellate Court, asking the jurists to intervene by either reviewing Blawie’s decision to keep his client on electronic monitoring or exercising its own authority “to grant relief.”
Although Schoenhorn contends the state’s evidence against his client isn’t as strong as originally believed, Blawie said he had to consider several factors, including the limited ties Troconis has to Connecticut and that she only came to the state to live with Fotis Dulos, who died in January from an apparent suicide while facing murder and other charges in the case.
Troconis has not violated the conditions of release that were set when she was first arrested in June 2019, Blawie said.
“This track record of ongoing compliance is sufficient to warrant certain modifications,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
But he stopped short of removing the GPS on the grounds Judicial Branch officials do not alert law enforcement of her movements and while the staff monitoring her whereabouts know her location, they are not aware of who she is meeting with or what conversations are taking place, Blawie said.
“The court sees no meaningful restriction on an attorney’s ability to properly advise a defendant subject to pretrial monitoring,” Blawie said.
But Troconis will no longer be on house arrest and she does not have a curfew. She must seek the permission of the court if she wants to travel outside Connecticut. The court also recently agreed to allow her to travel to Florida to see her father who is recovering from COVID-19, Blawie said.
“Assuming that she keeps her GPS monitor charged and operative, Troconis is free to travel anywhere at any time within the state of Connecticut without restrictions, pending trial,” Blawie said.
Troconis has been free on $2.1 million bond but under restrictions since her first arrest on tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges on June 1, 2019.
But Schoenhorn has argued the restrictions have been too harsh, and said they even caused Troconis to lose custody of her daughter, who is now living with her father in Argentina.
“Her adolescent daughter who lived with her but was away at boarding school was forced to leave last winter and move to Argentina with the child’s father, because she was on house arrest in a small apartment, and could not attend to the child’s needs,” Schoenhorn said.
According to her arrest warrant, Troconis is accused of helping Fotis Dulos dispose of bloody items that contained the DNA of his estranged wife who vanished May 24, 2019.
Attorney Kent Mawhinney, a longtime friend and attorney for Fotis Dulos, was also charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the case. He is being held on $2 million bond.
Troconis and Mawhinney have each pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Troconis is scheduled to have a remote court date on Oct. 1.