Michelle Troconis' conviction in Jennifer Dulos case lacked evidence, 1,000-page appeal brief says
The state failed to prove there was a conspiracy to kill
Jennifer Dulos, according to a 1,000-page brief filed this week in Michelle Troconis' appeal of her conviction in the case.
Troconis is serving a 14-and-a-half year sentence after being
convicted of several charges including conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five who was embroiled in an acrimonious divorce and custody battle with Troconis' boyfriend, Fotis Dulos.
Troconis is appealing the conviction to the state Supreme Court, and also has sought to overturn the conviction and sentence in a
habeas case based on ineffective counsel filed in a different court.
The brief describes a scene when Troconis was arrested for the first time, in front of her young daughter, after returning from a state police strip search about a week after
Jennifer Dulos was reported missing.
"She was in her pajamas," the brief said. "The police told her to change into street clothes in the bathroom but not to close the door. Her child was crying. When she left the bathroom she was handcuffed with her hands behind her back."
The brief also describes a scene when Troconis, her mother, and her daughter were being followed by police who "even attended a movie and sat near the defendant and her family."
The attorney for Troconis claimed in the 1,000-page appellate brief that "there was no evidence" that she agreed with Fotis Dulos to kill his estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos, who disappeared on May 24, 2019, and hasn't been seen since.
"Actions she took after the disappearance do not mean she knew ahead of time what (Fotis) Dulos planned even if it could be inferred she lied to police to cover for him," said the brief written by Supervisory Assistant Public Defender Pamela Nagy, who is representing Troconis in the appeal.
Nagy said that, "at best," the only evidence of a prearrangement "was that she answered his phone." "To infer an agreement to kill Farber (Jennifer Farber Dulos) from that evidence, even if that established (Fotis) Dulos’ alibi, is simply unreasonable," Nagy said in the brief. "There are far too many unknowns to draw that conclusion from this evidence. In addition, the evidence strongly suggests that (Fotis) Dulos kept Michelle in the dark about many things, including picnicking at Farber’s house earlier that week. (Fotis) Dulos told several people that the custody proceedings were going well and he would soon get custody. There was no evidence that Michelle knew anything different."
The brief outlines the issues that Troconis is bringing to appeal including whether the court erred by not suppressing her statements, "which were the product of an illegal arrest and coercive behavior by police," according to Nagy.
Troconis' appellate attorney also contends that the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the elements of all the crimes she was convicted of and that a four-day search of her home was "unreasonable."
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