Michelle Troconis guilty verdict: Some surprise in CT legal circles; what she faces next
Troconis was taken after the jury verdict to the state prison for women in Niantic when Judge Kevin Randolph increased her bond from $2.1 million to $6 million.
After five years of investigation, nonstop media scrutiny and finally conviction of conspiracy to commit murder and five obstruction charges after a month-long trial, Michelle Troconis faces the prospect of decades in prison.
Her conviction on the murder conspiracy charge surprised many legal observers who had concluded that prosecutors had implicated her in the coverup, but failed to show she was involved in planning the crime.
“I was surprised by the verdict,” Hartford criminal defense lawyer Trent LaLima said Friday. “Everyone I talked to thought there would be a split verdict. I remember thinking to myself, ‘They have got her at the scene but they have nothing tying her to this before it happened.’
“If the jury split, meaning it didn’t convict her of the murder conspiracy but convicted her of the other stuff, I figured she probably would have been sentenced to between five and 10 years to serve. But now that they have her on conspiracy to commit murder, the sky’s the limit. Probably decades in prison.”
Troconis won’t learn her sentence until a sentencing hearing, which has been scheduled for May 31. In the interim, she will endure a number of legal procedures common to all criminal convictions. And although it is possible she can post a bond to win release while awaiting sentencing, her chance or release afterward shrink substantially.
She was taken after the jury verdict to the state prison for women in Niantic when Judge Kevin Randolph increased her bond from $2.1 million to $6 million. If she can put together collateral to satisfy the $6 million, she will be released, but only until sentencing. At that point she will argue for release on an appeal bond and the decision will be up to the judge.
Between now and sentencing, Troconis will have to submit to a pre-sentencing interview, which is part of the sentencing process. She will be interviewed by a state probation officer who will prepare a report on her life — background information on her upbringing, adult history, her family life and and other aspects of her personal life.
The judge will rely on the report in part in deciding on a sentence.
Troconis defense lawyer John Schoenhorn will weigh in on the sentencing process with a memo that will attempt to mitigate her involvement in the crimes and argue for a minimal sentence. Prosecutors will take the contrary position and, in LaLima’s view, ask for decades of imprisonment. The judge has the final word.
Also between now and the sentencing date, Troconis will almost certainly ask the judge to order a new trial, arguing that the one ending in her conviction was marred by any number of evidentiary or procedural errors. Most defendants lose such motions.
Troconis’ last hope for freedom will be an appeal bond, which could keep her out of prison for at least the first of what could be decades of appeals.