New details emerged during an investigator's testimony during the trial of Michelle Troconis Friday.
The testimony was regarding the afternoon Jennifer Dulos disappeared.
But before that testimony could be heard, the court had to address allegations of misconduct and the potential that a sealed document found its way into Michelle Troconis’ hands. The jury was not present for this discussion.
The allegations of misconduct included allegations against Michelle Troconis’ mother, who has been present in the courtroom almost daily.
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According to prosecutors, it was brought to the court's attention that at some point during the trial, Troconis’ mother was mouthing something in the direction of the jury. There was also an allegation that at the point the potential report on Troconis’ laptop was noticed, she attempted to tell Troconis to get rid of it.
But according to the defense, there have been allegations against the friends and family of Jennifer Dulos, who have been present for parts of the trial, regarding gestures toward some of the witnesses. We reached out to a spokesperson for the family and friends, but have not heard back.
The judge was quick to tighten the rules in the courtroom, regarding both the defendant, and people in the gallery. He indicated only members of the defense and prosecution could have their laptops for the rest of the trial. Also, anyone engaging in misconduct during the trial will be removed.
Regarding the allegations that Troconis had court-sealed documents on her laptop, the judge decided if there is evidence sufficient for a contempt hearing, they would schedule the hearing after the defense rests at the earliest.
Once the allegations were addressed, testimony resumed with video shown of Fotis Dulos withdrawing cash the day the Red Tacoma was detailed. Michelle Troconis was in the passenger seat.
Retired state police detective John Kimball returned to the stand on Friday. He was the lead investigator on the case when Jennifer Dulos disappeared.
“At 12:22 we see a vehicle consistent with the Tacoma arriving, pulling into the property,” said Kimball pointing to surveillance video showing that Red Tacoma pulling into 80 Mountain Spring Road the day Jennifer Dulos disappeared.
Kimball was showing the jury what was revealed through surveillance video from neighborhood homes in Farmington obtained during their investigation from the day Jennifer Dulos disappeared.
Those videos show the cars Michelle Troconis told investigators in interviews she had driven on May 24, 2019. You see the vehicles make multiple trips back and forth from 80 Mountain Spring road to 4 Jefferson Crossing where Fotis and Michelle were living. The videos come from a period of time from roughly after 1:30 p.m., but before 5 p.m. when Pawel Gumienny testified, he arrived at the 80 Mountain Spring property.
A new detail from the home surveillance footage, showed smoke rising from a single chimney at Fotis Dulos’ home. The times smoke becomes visible were consistent with times some of the trips were made according to testimony.
Kimball indicated there were three separate smoke events separated by periods of non-smoke that afternoon.
“Whatever it is, whatever they are trying to claim from a couple of puffs of white smoke at various times on a windy day, it's pure speculation,” said defense attorney Jon Schoenhorn outside court Friday.
Kimball's testimony set up the state's presentation of Michelle Troconis’ third videotaped interview with state police investigators in August of 2019.
“The way it looks now, is you may be looking more like you are involved than you actually are. So we are trying to give you an opportunity to kind of explain what's going on and put things in perspective with context,” said John Kimball in that recorded interview with Troconis.
Detectives John Kimball and Corey Clabby pressed Troconis on new information they had obtained during the investigation. They also hammered more inconsistencies in her details from prior interviews.
Prosecutors stopped the video to highlight for the jury those same inconsistencies, including not seeing Fotis the morning Jennifer disappeared, and her answering a phone call on Fotis’ phone when it was left in Farmington the morning Jennifer disappeared.
The afternoon testimony surrounding the third interview was interrupted briefly so state prosecutors could address a concern they had regarding upcoming defense testimony. The state said the defense plans to bring in professors from out of state to testify to memory loss stemming from external factors like stress as well as memory loss pertaining to language.
The state claims at least one of the witnesses was not disclosed to their team with sufficient time to prepare cross examination, and calling that witness to the stand would be unfair for the state. But the defense claims they are not obligated to prepare the state for a witness in the manner the state wished.
The judge decided the witness is to prepare a report containing some of their opinions on the matters they plan to testify about and produce that report to the court by midnight Friday evening if the testimony is to be allowed in. The defense was given the opportunity to immediately call the witnesses, but it’s unclear if the witnesses will be able to produce the report in time.
Court won’t be in session Monday because of Presidents Day, so the trial picks back up Tuesday morning.
