STAMFORD — The attorney for Michelle Troconis and prosecutors are asking a judge to close the courtroom when they argue next month over a particular piece of evidence in the Jennifer Dulos case.
Jon Schoenhorn, who is representing Troconis, turned the sweatshirt over to prosecutors in 2021 through a third party, attorney Tara Knight, who is now a Superior Court judge.
A letter that was with the sweatshirt will be the subject of a hearing on March 15 and 16 to determine if the note falls under attorney-client privilege and if Schoenhorn waived that privacy by asking Knight to turn the piece of clothing over to prosecutors.
In addition to a closed court, the attorneys also want any “privileged materials that will be filed” in connection with the hearing to also be sealed.
The outcome of the hearing could impact whether a judge would disqualify Schoenhorn from representing Troconis, according to the motion filed by prosecutors on Feb. 9.
In her motion to remove him from the case, Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Michelle Manning said Schoenhorn has refused to tell prosecutors where he got the sweatshirt, but has claimed he may use it in the defense of his client since it contained a hair with the DNA of Pawel Gumienny, a former employee of Fotis Dulos, who faced murder and other charges in his estranged wife’s death and disappearance when he died by suicide in 2020.
“Even if Schoenhorn is not ultimately called as a witness, he can still be disqualified since his performance as an advocate can be impaired by his relationship to the events in question,” said Manning, who later added that the jury may consider Schoenhorn to have a “nefarious” motive and “hold it against his client.”
Schoenhorn has since filed a motion to have the entire Stamford State’s Attorney’s Office removed from prosecuting the case.
Schoenhorn began representing Troconis shortly after Fotis Dulos died in January 2020 and has since filed a flurry of motions seeking to have the court remove the electronic monitoring device his client is required to wear as a condition of release and alleging that state police fabricated or misconstrued statements in the arrest warrants. He also wants the charges against his client to dismiss.
In this case, Schoenhorn contends the sweatshirt could indicate Gumienny was also involved in the crime, court documents said. But in his response to Manning’s request to have him disqualified, Schoenhorn said there was no reason for him to testify where he got the sweatshirt.
“There is no scenario under which counsel will divulge any information on the stand and this desperate plot by the State’s Attorney’s Office only reveals the weakness of its case,” Schoenhorn wrote in the court documents.
Gumienny has not been charged with a crime. He has acknowledged that Fotis Dulos was using his truck on the day of the homicide and told investigators he believed his boss may have been trying to frame him for the crime.
Police believe Fotis Dulos used Gumienny’s Toyota Tacoma pickup truck to drive to New Canaan on the morning of May 24, 2019, and then biked to his estranged wife’s home where he attacked her when she returned from dropping off their five children at school, arrest warrants stated.
On the night of the disappearance, police said Troconis was seen on surveillance video in Fotis Dulos’ pickup truck as he made a series of stops in Hartford. Police said Fotis Dulos was dumping trash bags in bins along Albany Avenue. Police said they later recovered some of the bags, which contained Jennifer Dulos’ blood and clothing.
Troconis and attorney, Kent Mawhinney, who is accused of providing an alibi for Fotis Dulos, have each pleaded not guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Troconis has also pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence and hindering the prosecution and will next appear in court on March 8.
Jennifer Dulos has never been found, but she has been presumed dead by the police and her family.