After listening to attorneys make their cases Tuesday, jurors are now tasked with deciding Michelle Troconis’ involvement in the disappearance of Jennifer Farber Dulos.
www.courant.com
2/28/24
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Prosecutor Sean McGuinness, in closing out nearly
two hours of closing arguments in the case on Tuesday, laid out 30 examples that he said point to Troconis’ involvement in the disappearance of Jennifer Farber Dulos, asking the jury repeatedly: “Is it just a coincidence?”
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The state spent 25 days building its case against Troconis, but closing arguments were the first time the jury heard them tie all that evidence together. In doing so, McGuinness called out 30 times when he said Troconis was knowingly involved in the crimes and cover-up despite the defense’s arguments that she just happened to be along for the ride, or just happened to pick up a call to Dulos’ phone that prosecutors say was prearranged.
Troconis and her defense team have maintained her innocence throughout the lengthy trial, arguing that the state’s case was built on “speculation, upon speculation, upon speculation.”
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Pointing to a series of slides on a screen, McGuinness walked the jury through each of the so-called coincidences from May 2019 to June 2019, when she did her third interview with police:
“I want to just pose these questions to you as you head into your deliberations. Is it really just a bunch of coincidences?” McGuiness asked the jury.
These were the 30 things he asked them to consider as they deliberate:
1. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant answered Dulos’ phone at 4 Jefferson Crossing when he was murdering his wife in New Canaan?
2. Is it just a coincidence that Dulos’ phone was being moved and manipulated when only the defendant was home?
3. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant brought cleaning supplies to a property on 80 Mountain Spring Road where you know that the cleanup of Pawel Gumienny’s Toyota Tacoma was going on?
4. Is it just a coincidence that the call from Greece is not in the defendant’s timeline?
5. Is it just a coincidence that during the clean-up, only hours after Jennifer is murdered, the defendant is shuttling back and forth between 4 Jefferson (Crossing) and 80 Mountain Spring Road?
6. Is it just a coincidence that during these trips back and forth the defendant starts a fire at 4 Jefferson Crossing?
7. Is it just a coincidence that during these trips back and forth, the defendant starts a second fire at 4 Jefferson Crossing?
8. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant eventually lights a third fire at 4 Jefferson Crossing?
9. Is it just a coincidence that, while Dulos is cleaning the Tacoma, she takes a brown-stained paper towel from him and throws it in the trash?
10. Is it just a coincidence that despite no one telling her to, she took the keys to the Tacoma?
11. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant travels with Dulos to Hartford as he disposes of the evidence on the same day?
12. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant brought black garbage bags to 80 Mountain and Jennifer’s shirt and bra were found inside black trash bags?
13. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant brought a green and yellow sponge to 80 Mountain Spring Road and two of those were found in the trash in Hartford?
14. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant brought a broom and the police found a mop or broom handle in the trash at Albany Avenue in Hartford?
15. Is it just a coincidence the defendant opened the door to the Raptor at the exact moment that Dulos exited the vehicle to dump those license plates in the sewer and block that other vehicle’s view?
16. Is it just a coincidence that, despite her daughter not being home, the defendant panicked when the police came to the house, went to three separate rooms, and said “I don’t wanna be here?”
17. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant followed Fotis Dulos to the car wash and then tried to lie about it?
18. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant’s phone number, and not Dulos’ number, was used at the car wash?
19. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant lied and said she showered with Dulos when he was actually en route to murder his wife?
20. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant lied about seeing Dulos in the office, again while he was in New Canaan murdering his wife?
21. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant initially denied seeing Dulos’ phone on the morning that Jennifer was murdered?
22. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant said she saw Dulos meeting with Kent Mawhinney at 4 Jefferson Crossing around the time of Jennifer’s murder — the same information that was in Dulos’ timeline?
23. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant never mentioned starting a fire to the police until they confronted her in the third and final interview?
24. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant failed to mention that the Tacoma was at 80 Mountain Spring Road during her first two interviews?
25. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant never mentioned that Dulos had washed the Tacoma during her first two interviews?
26. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant answered the one call mentioned in Dulos’ timeline on that morning as having been answered by him on the morning of his wife’s murder?
27. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant failed to tell police that Fotis Dulos’ bicycle was at 80 Mountain Spring Rd. until the third and final interview?
28. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant lied about not going back to 80 Mountain Spring Road to return those keys?
29. Is it just a coincidence that Dulos told Pawel Gumienny to keep the defendant “out of this” when Gumienny brought up the defendant taking his keys?
30. Is it just a coincidence that the defendant’s DNA was found on the opening of a garbage bag that also contained blood stains, tape, and Jennifer Dulos’ DNA?
“Are all these things just coincidences or is the defendant guilty?” he asked after listing them all.
Throughout the trial and in his closing arguments, Schoenhorn addressed most of these things. He said that Troconis was in the car on Albany Avenue in Hartford, but that Troconis was not paying much attention to what Dulos was doing and thought they were just going to Starbucks.
