A socialite found guilty of assisting her boyfriend in concealing the murder of Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five from Connecticut, appeared in court Monday. The hearings marked the beginning of her appeal for release from prison.

In 2024, Michelle Troconis received a 20-year prison sentence for aiding her lover, Fotis Dulos—Jennifer’s estranged husband—in orchestrating the May 2019 murder and subsequently covering it up.

Troconis’ defense team is seeking to overturn her conviction, claiming she received ineffective legal counsel from her previous attorney, NBC Connecticut reported.

During Monday’s proceedings, her former lawyer, Andy Bowman, faced intense questioning regarding his decision to permit Troconis to engage in several police interviews in 2019 after discussions with prosecutor Richard Colangelo.

Bowman testified, “She’s innocent. [Colangelo] was threatening to charge her with murder, and there was urgency because if the body was found, she would face those charges. She was convincing, so I advised her to speak with them, but ultimately, it was her choice.”

Troconis’ new team also claimed she wasn’t informed about the fact that Bowman spoke with the prosecutor. They charged that he didn’t lay out for her the legal implications of talking with cops.

Her statements to the investigators were then used against her at trial when jurors were shown evidence about them.

Troconis’ team must prove that her rights were violated by ineffective counsel and because of those violations, she didn’t get a fair shake at trial, resulting in her conviction on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, evidence tampering and hindering prosecution.

Bowman has denied the claims that his former client was convicted as a result of his alleged bad legal advice.

The judge overseeing the hearings will have 120 days to issue a decision on Troconis’ petition to be freed. If he sides with Troconis, her case would be overturned and prosecutors would decide whether to put her on trial again.

The hearings will continue on Jan. 9 and Jan. 16.

Troconis’ lover and co-conspirator Fotis Dulos killed himself in 2020 after he was charged in his wife’s murder. Her body was never found.

Prosecutors claimed that Dulos — a luxury home builder originally from Greece — killed his estranged wife because the pair where in the middle of a bitter child-custody battle.

Troconis went along with the murder plot because of her frustration over the Dulos divorce proceedings, prosecutors claimed.