Update: Michelle Troconis was sentenced to 20 years in prison, vacated after 14.5 years. She will follow her time in prison with five years of probation.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — The sentencing hearing for Michelle Troconis is underway, nearly three months after a jury found her guilty of conspiring with her then-boyfriend, Fotis Dulos, to kill Jennifer Farber Dulos and helping him cover up the crimes.
The sentencing hearing started at 9:30 a.m. Friday.
Judge Kevin Randolph vacated count four — conspiracy to commit evidence tampering — saying the charge was duplicative and violated protections against double jeopardy. With one count vacated, Troconis faces up to 45 years in prison.
Family and friends of Farber Dulos, including her mother and her five children, delivered emotional victim impact statements. More than a dozen of Troconis’ family and friends – in person and by video – are expected to speak on her behalf.
The video below is from News 8 at 5 p.m. on May 30.
“She could spend up to 50 years in prison,” Ryan McGuigan, a former state prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, told News 8 on Thursday before the judge vacated one count. “If I were her criminal defense attorney, at this juncture, I would be preparing my client to hear that 50 number.”
McGuigan shared there are different factors the judge will consider.
“The judge will take into consideration what didn’t happen here,” said McGuigan. “You did not get a guilty plea. You did not get somebody who accepted responsibility for what the jury said they did.”
On March 1, Troconis was found guilty on six counts, including conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence, two counts of tampering with physical evidence and second-degree hindering prosecution.
Troconis has maintained her innocence from the start, and Schoenhorn said they plan to appeal.
Troconis has been held at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, the state’s only institution for female offenders, on a $6 million bond.
Another defendant in the case, Kent Mawhinney, a friend of Dulos and his one-time lawyer in a civil case, is awaiting trial on a murder conspiracy charge. He has pleaded not guilty.