New lawyer for Michelle Troconis, convicted in Dulos case, says contempt charge is 'garbage'

By Lisa Backus, Ethan Fry, Staff Writers Updated Feb 19, 2025 4:10 p.m.

Attorney Darnell Crosland, seen in a file photo, has been hired to represent Michelle Troconis on her contempt of court charge. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media

STAMFORD — A new lawyer representing Michelle Troconis, convicted in the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, said after a court appearance Wednesday that his client is innocent, and that the state should drop a contempt of court charge lodged against her in view of the sentence of more than 14 years she already is serving.

The contempt count is punishable by a maximum of six months, the attorney, Darnell Crosland, said after Troconis appeared briefly Wednesday before Judge Alex Hernandez, who continued the case to April 18 for the selection of a trial date.

"What are we doing here?" Crosland said to reporters outside the courthouse. "It's garbage." 

In court, Crosland officially replaced Troconis' previous lawyer, Robert Frost. A Norwalk resident whose office is in Stamford, Crosland has been involved in a number of notable cases during his career. He is representing the family of the Rev. Tommie Jackson of Stamford, who was struck and killed by a police officer responding to a call in 2023. He also was involved in the 2019 federal trial in New York related to the Nine Trey Bloods and the attempted kidnapping of rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine.

He said he came into the case because Troconis' family is "tapped out" after paying for all of Troconis' legal representation since Dulos' 2019 disappearance.

Crosland said a videographer who recorded the trial and who had been subpoenaed by Frost has agreed to testify at Troconis' trial on the contempt charge. Troconis is accused of displaying a portion of a sealed Dulos family psychological report during her 2024 trial on charges including conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Jennifer Dulos. 

Courtroom video confirmed that a portion of the report could be seen on her laptop during the trial, according to a warrant for her arrest on the contempt of court charge.

Assistant State’s Attorney Elizabeth Moran said in court the state's presentation of evidence should in the contempt trial should take "no more than a day." 

Moran said in September there had been no offer made to Troconis to settle the contempt charge.

Crosland said the charge doesn't make sense because Troconis' attorneys were authorized to have the report, and a court order prohibiting its dissemination didn't apply to her. 

Troconis is being represented in the appeal of her conspiracy to commit murder conviction by the state's Office of the Chief Public Defender based on financial information she filed in 2024 claiming she was indigent and had no income since she is incarcerated. 

"I can not pay the fees, costs and expenses of an appeal (I am indigent) and I can not afford to hire an attorney," Troconis said in a notice seeking a public defender for the appeal. Later in the document she also said, "I am incarcerated." 

The document indicates that she asked the state to pay for any costs related to an appeal, which could include the fees to receive copies of the transcript of the trial and other court proceedings related to her case. The attorney who represented her in the conspiracy to murder trial, Jon Schoenhorn, previously had said the cost of the transcripts alone could range from $75,000 to$100,000. 

According to state law, a person is considered indigent and eligible for a public defender if they have been charged with the commission of a crime punishable by imprisonment and they don't have the financial ability at the time of the request for a public defender to secure legal representation and to provide other necessary expenses of legal representation. 

A judge agreed in July to allow Troconis to utilize the services of a public defender in the conspiracy to commit murder appeal based on her financial status. 

Crosland said Wednesday that he would help in the appeal if necessary, but commended the work of Troconis' current team in that case.

If convicted, the contempt charge could carry a six-month jail term and a $500 fine. It was unclear whether, if convicted of the charge, a judge would add six months to her sentence in the death of Dulos or have the sentences run concurrently. Prosecutors also have filed an appeal against trial Judge Kevin Randall's ruling dropping one of the tampering with evidence charges she was convicted of during a jury trial that began in January 2024. That charge potentially carried an additional one-year prison term.

In Frost's previous request for a subpoena, to be served at the offices of the Law & Crime network — which broadcast a livestream of the trial on YouTube that racked up tens of thousands of views per day — the attorney said he wanted to ask the videographer questions about what instructions he was given before the trial began and how he followed them.

In the filing, the lawyer said the question of whether the view of Troconis' laptop depicted on the livestream was "inadvertent" would "undermine the reasonableness of the state's current claim that the trial participants (including Ms. Troconis) knew or had reason to believe that virtually anything placed on a laptop screen would be seen by the public on the Law & Crime livestream."

The psychological report in question was drafted in 2019 during the contentious divorce and custody battle between Jennifer and Fotis Dulos. The document was sealed by a judge during a family court hearing that never was completed as Jennifer Dulos disappeared days later.

Her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, died by suicide in January 2020 after he was charged with his estranged wife's murder. 

Troconis was convicted of helping Fotis Dulos, her then-boyfriend, set up an alibi and destroy evidence related to the murder. She is serving a 14½-year sentence at York Correctional Institution, the state's only prison for women. 

Feb 19, 2025 | Updated Feb 19, 2025 4:10 p.m.

Lisa Backus

STAFF WRITER

Ethan Fry

REPORTER