The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Prosecutor says don’t move Dulos case
STAMFORD — The blood of Jennifer Dulos was splattered on the floor, door and wall of the garage of her New Canaan home, Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo described.
The 50-year-old mother of five’s blood was also found on the hood, bumper and rear fender of her 2014 Range Rover, and “bloodlike” stains were discovered on her kitchen sink faucet and cabinet door, Colangelo said.
“The epicenter of the criminal enterprise — the place where Jennifer’s murder occurred — lies squarely within the ambit of this venue in New Canaan,” Colangelo wrote in his response this week to Michelle Troconis’ request for a change of venue.
Troconis has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in the May 24, 2019, death and disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.
Although some of the charges are related to incidents police say occurred in Hartford and Avon, Colangelo said a judge should deny Troconis’ request to have the cases moved from the StamfordNorwalk Judicial District.
Defense attorney Jon Schoenhorn made the request in February, soon after he was hired to replace Andrew Bowman as Troconis’ lawyer. The motion has remained pending as court proceedings have been limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state had not responded to the request until Wednesday, when Colangelo filed his objection in state Superior Court in Stamford.
In his response, Colangelo said Schoenhorn did not make a strong argument that his client would not receive a fair trial in Stamford and there was no reason to move two of the cases to Hartford, while the conspiracy to commit murder charge remained in Stamford.
“The court should not indulge this procedural gamesmanship,” Colangelo said.
Colangelo said Troconis was arraigned three times with her previous attorney, who did not seek a change of venue at those court appearances.
The request for a change of venue is due to “her inconvenience or that of her new counsel — that is the impetus for her untimely objection,” Colangelo said.
“Tellingly, Troconis did not utter a peep that the Stamford-Norwalk Judicial District was the wrong venue while she was represented by attorney Bowman, whose office is located in Westport, within the Stamford-Norwalk Judicial District.”
Schoenhorn, a Hartfordbased attorney, was hired in the days after Troconis’ former boyfriend, Fotis Dulos, died from an apparent suicide on Jan. 30.
Fotis Dulos was facing murder, kidnapping and other charges in the case when he died.
According to arrest warrants, police believe Fotis Dulos used an employee’s pickup truck to drive from his Farmington home to New Canaan the morning of May 24, 2019. Police said Fotis Dulos parked the truck near Waveny Park and rode a vintage French bicycle to his estranged wife’s home on Welles Lane.
According to arrest warrants, Fotis Dulos was “lying in wait” when his estranged wife returned from dropping off their children at school.
Police said Jennifer Dulos was the victim of a “serious physical assault,” and she has been presumed dead based on the blood evidence found in her garage, the arrest warrants state.
Around the time Jennifer Dulos was reported missing that night, police said Hartford surveillance cameras captured two people resembling Fotis Dulos and Troconis making a series of stops along Albany Avenue.
Troconis is released on house arrest on $2.1 million bond and is scheduled to return to Stamford court on Aug. 6, when the change-ofvenue motion and several others could be heard.