Michelle Troconis defence claims three words prove innocence in Jennifer Dulos’ murder

Michelle Troconis is on trial for her alleged role in the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos

The defence ended closing arguments for Michelle Troconis’s trial on Tuesday with video of officials expressing doubt that Troconis knew anything about her former boyfriend Fotis Dulos nefarious actions surrounding his estranged wife’s disappearance and presumed death.

After seven weeks, Ms Troconis’ trial is nearing an end. Jurors in Connecticut will soon decide whether the 49-year-old conspired with Fotis to kill his estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos, on 24 May 2019, and cover up the crime.

Both sides gave one last shot at arguing their case as they presented their closing arguments on Tuesday.

Defence attorney Jon Schoenhorn ended his closing showing a clip from Ms Troconis’ police interview after she and her attorney had left the room.

In the video, officials are talking and the Stamford State’s Attorney says: “She doesn’t know,” referring to Ms Troconis.

Back in court during closing arguments, the defence then told the jury: “And if he thought she didn’t know, that’s reasonable doubt.”

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Mr Schoenhorn said that Fotis is “ultimately responsible” and that Ms Troconis was not involved nor did she know.

“She didn’t know,” he said.

Mr Schoenhorn said “major questions” still remain about what happened to Jennifer Dulos.

“It’s still unclear, it’s still unclear what happened, and unfortunately this trial will not solve that puzzle,” he said. “It will remain a mystery, an unfinished puzzle.”

“No matter how you view this evidence, even in hindsight five years later, there is nothing to suggest that Michelle had any clue about what was going to happen in New Canaan on May 24, 2019. More importantly, there is nothing to suggest that Michelle would even think that Fotis was capable of doing something like that,” Schoenhorn added.

However, the state argued on Tuesday that Ms Troconis ‘knew what was going on’ with Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance and that evidence points to Ms Troconis actively trying to tamper with evidence stemming from her murder.

“She knew what was going on,” the state said. “The evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intended to end her and Fotis Dulos’ two years of torture by murdering Jennifer Farber Dulos. She acted as his alibi during the murder, she conspired to tamper with physical evidence of the murder, intentionally aided in covering it up at 80 Mountain Spring Road, at Albany Avenue in Hartford and Russell Speeder’s in Avon. The evidence shows the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of each an every count.”

While the mother-of-five’s body has never been found, Jennifer has been officially declared dead – with police finding that she died a violent death at the hands of Fotis, the man she had filed for divorce from just two years earlier.

In January 2020, Fotis died by suicide after being charged with her murder.

Ms Troconis has pleaded not guilty and insists she did not know Fotis was doing anything nefarious as she watched him toss garbage bags into random bins, or as she helped him write up a timeline of their whereabouts on the day his estranged wife disappeared.

Mr Schoenhorn admitted that Ms Troconis was in the truck with Fotis, but said she had no idea what was in the trash bags.

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He argued that his client should not be held accountable for Fotis’ actions, which he claimed she did not know about.

“The people that we trust and believe in are our loved ones, and people usually are who they say they are,” he said.

“We don’t immediately go and distrust them, even when certain red flags arise. Even if you think something like ‘I wonder why he’s doing that,’ you don’t suddenly think ‘this is a bad person.’ Our default in our human interrelations is to believe people, we all do that.”

He added that most people “never think that we’re going to be manipulated by someone we care about.”

And if something happens, a person does not “immediately decide, what, that they’re about to murder somebody,” he claimed.

“Whatever Fotis Dulos did, it was not for or because of Michelle, and it was not with her. Fotis put up a façade until his last, poisoned breath, and he died without ever acknowledging his actions or admitting his role, even to his own children. He never gave answers,” Mr Schoenhorn said.

“Everyone wants closure. Michelle is not the remaining half of a scheming plot, she was never part of the equation. That is pure speculation.”