Judge lifts house arrest, curfew for Michelle Troconis

STAMFORD — Michelle Troconis is no longer under 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.

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.