Troconis’ new lawyer challenges evidence in Dulos case

STAMFORD — Attorney Jon Schoenhorn is expected to challenge the contradictory statements made by Michelle Troconis to police because there could have been a language barrier due to her South American upbringing.

“I wish to explore that,” said Schoenhorn, who agreed to take on the case against the 45-year-old single mother who has been charged in the death and disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.

A Spanish-speaking interpreter will be in the Stamford courtroom Friday when his client makes her next appearance on conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges.

Troconis spoke to police three times since Jennifer Dulos vanished on May 24, according to arrest warrants. Police said she changed her story several times and tried to create an alibi the morning of the disappearance by visiting friends and taking selfies with the Stop & Shop robot.

She also at first told investigators she had seen her boyfriend Fotis Dulos the morning his estranged wife was believed to be attacked in her New Canaan home, but later admitted she had not seen him until the afternoon, arrest warrants said.

Each time Troconis was “interrogated” it was likely a “strenuous exercise” trying to comprehend the questions police were asking and formulate responses, Schoenhorn said.

“English is not her first language,” Schoenhorn said of Troconis, who is a U.S. Citizen by birth, but grew up in South America. “We’re going to look at whether there might be some language comprehension issues.”

Schoenhorn is known for his passionate representation in civil rights and criminal cases. As an experienced litigator with his 30-year-old Hartford law firm, Jon Schoenhorn & Associates LLC, the 65-year-old attorney has won cases that shaped state law on the definition of hostile work environment and secured the right to probable cause hearings for eight defendants charged with murder and other crimes punishable by life imprisonment in the early 1980s.

“I’ve know Jon as a close friend and colleague for nearly 40 years,” attorney Gerald Klein said. “He’s a very smart lawyer, he’s aggressive and I couldn’t imagine a better lawyer for this type of case.”

Schoenhorn handles civil and criminal litigation in state and federal court, Klein said.

“He takes a lot of the cases that other attorneys will pass on,” he said. “He does a good job and he’s aggressive, that’s what the lingering co-defendants really need.”

A graduate of Fairfield schools and Antioche College in Ohio, Schoenhorn worked as a journalist as he sought his law degree from the University of Connecticut. He is among a handful of attorneys nationwide who is certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a criminal trial specialist and a civil trial specialist.

His work changed the definition of hostile work environment in

Connecticut by representing a man subject to years of degrading remarks about his sexual orientation in the workplace. Schoenhorn won the case, which set precedent by requiring the definition of harassing behaviors that constitute a hostile work environment to include comments on sexual orientation.

He was also instrumental in allowing eight men charged with murder or offenses punishable by life in prison to receive probable cause hearings in the early 1980s. The men had fallen into a gray area of state law, which was changed to require probable cause hearings for some offenses as of May 1983. The men had all been indicted by a state Grand Jury before that point, but after a state constitutional amendment had passed on the probable cause hearing requirement.

Schoenhorn said he was one of more than a dozen attorneys who Troconis was considering to hire after Fotis Dulos died from an apparent suicide on Jan. 30. Troconis had previously been represented by attorney Andrew Bowman who publicly said little about the charges and was with his client when she was questioned by police.

The death of Dulos, who was considered the main suspect in the murder, suddenly change the dynamic of the cases brought against Troconis and attorney Kent Mawhinney, who was also charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

“I’m not going to speculate on why they chose me,” said Schoenhorn, who took on Troconis’ case on Monday.

He has since filed two motions, one of which is seeking a change of venue from state Superior Court in Stamford to Hartford. Schoenhorn contends the crimes Troconis is accusing of committing occurred in Hartford County.

Schoenhorn plans on being more vocal about his client’s innocence, he said, and is also seeking to have some of the courtimposed restrictions removed as part of her release on $2.1 million bond.