Michelle Troconis is requesting a public defender to appeal her conviction

Michelle Troconis has filed for a public defender and a waiver of court costs as she prepares to appeal her conviction.

Troconis, 49, was convicted in March of conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence, conspiring to tamper with evidence and hindering prosecution in connection with the death and disappearance of New Canaan mother and writer Jennifer Farber Dulos in 2019. The trial spanned several weeks in Stamford Superior Court.

On May 31, she was sentenced to twenty years in prison, suspended after fourteen and a half years, followed by five years’ probation. Judge Kevin A. Randolph dismissed one count of conspiracy to tamper with evidence due to concerns of double jeopardy.

Troconis’ defense team, consisting of attorneys Jon Schoenhorn and Audrey Felsen, has announced that it will appeal her conviction.

In court documents, Troconis has requested a waiver of fees, costs and expenses and an appointment of a public defender in her appeal, officially stating that she cannot afford a lawyer for her appeal.

Court documents obtained by the Hartford Courant state: “I cannot afford the fees, costs and expenses of an appeal (I am indigent) and I cannot afford to hire an attorney.”

The application was filed on June 25, records show.

The case against Troconis lasted several years, and she was convicted five years after Farber Dulos — the estranged wife of her ex-boyfriend Fotis Dulos — disappeared after dropping off her children in New Canaan.

Troconis was convicted of conspiring with Dulos, who was embroiled in a divorce and custody battle with Farber Dulos, to kill the mother of five.

Prosecutors allege Troconis then helped Dulos cover up the crimes.

Farber Dulos’ body was never found, but she was declared legally dead.

Troconis’ attorneys previously filed a motion for a new trial, citing several “grounds to override the jury’s verdict.”

The list includes concerns about prosecutors’ closing arguments, which Troconis and her team said “caused the trial to be so tainted with unfairness as to constitute a violation of due process” and repeated “dishonest” claims that Troconis made against the police had “lied”.

The motion also alleges improper appeal to emotions and prejudices by the jury when prosecutors stated in court “that the case was ‘about’ the Dulos children” while the five children were in the courtroom.

The multi-page motion further includes the trial court’s denial of requests to bar evidence of presumptive blood detection tests to be presented to the jury and the limitation of defense counsel’s cross-examination of certain witnesses as grounds for vacating the conviction.

Troconis is currently incarcerated at York Correctional Institution in Niantic.