I was very impressed with Manning's swift action.
On the particular issue of safeguarding the Herman Report contents at trial I believe Atty Manning did excellent work and saved the day when it appeared Judge Randolph was simply exhausted and not paying adequate attention. The only words I have for Jon Schoenhorn continuing to battle against Judge Randolph's prior ruling that the Herman Report COULD NOT be entered as evidence is DISRESPECTFUL to the prior judicial ruling and DISGUSTING in his deceit and decision to LIE to Judge Randolph when called on his behavior. It was thuggish behavior and it was mirrored in the behavior that we saw from Atty Audrey Felson in her cross examinations of two other imo disgraced attorneys, GAL Meehan and Michael Rose; both of whom I believe did not tell the truth in their testimony on the stand.
Atty Manning along with her colleague Atty McGuiness imo were both impressive in their performance and professionalism both pre trial and during trial, particularly given the circumstances of having to work with a Press *advertiser censored* Defence Attorney such as Jon Schoenhorn who abused both the States Attorneys and the judicial process extensively imo during the 3 year pretrial period with a long series of improbable, poorly prepared and poorly executed pretrial motions including his multiyear farcical quest to obtain the unsealng of the Herman Report from Family Court. Watching the many leaked Zoom calls (leaked by Schoenhorn BTW along with pretrial evidence he leaked many times to the Press - he was admonished to not do this but no Judge ever stopped him and so he continued to do it over and over), showed him ill prepared, complaining about trivial matters with no documentation and taking up precious court time and resources.
IMO it was all quite shameful and I wish the Press that give air time to the ridiculous claims of the entire Troconis family that MT did not get a 'fair trial' could see the entire judicial system bending over backward to accommodate the ridiculous and often times laughable claims of her equally ridiculous attorney.
I don't think I will ever forget the Zoom hearing of Schoenhorn complaining for over an hr to Judge Blawie iirc about how the siezed computers and electronics belonging to MT, her daughter and her mother that I believe wer siezed from 4JX hadn't been returned to them by the State. The State patiently replied that the items were being examined as evidence but that if MT needed her daughters computer back or even her Mother's computer returned to simply provide the identifying information to the State and they would expedite the review and return the items. This insane discussion went on for over 2 hrs iirc and all the State wanted was a list of items requested to be returned. NEITHER Schoenhorn nor MT or her mother ever spent the time to identify their electronics to the State for return. Their goal was simply to waste time and throw stones. The sheer laziness of Schoenhorn was epic imo and was seen over and over and this computer/electronics example was classic because imo if he had simply done the work to compile a list of items to present at the hearing for the Judge to decide upon it might have been a productive exercise. BUT NO. This is not what he wanted to do as he simply wanted a forum to complain and obstruct and throw stones at the State. The State at that time I believe had over 25 electronic items taken from 4JX and simply asked for MT and Schoenhorn to ID the items they wanted expedited and Schoenhorn and MT couldn't be bothered to comply. Calculate the cost of 6 attorneys plus the Judge and support staff on a Zoom call for 2 hrs on this insanity. Judge Blawie finally had enough and demanded a list of items from Schoenhorn to be delivered to the State but I don't believe that this ever was delivered. This issue was a minor one but it was just one of many many others that took place and wasnt designed to be substantive to the defence of his client. IMO it was shameful and IDK why the Judges and State's Attorneys bent over backward to accommodate this continuing behavior from Schoenhorn? I also wonder where the Troconis family funds came from to finance this assault on the CT Judiciary as only a few of these trivial motions was ever won by Schoenhorn?
IMO it was all designed to simply allow MT to live in CO and be with her daughter as what was going on had little to nothing to do with the pretrial evidentiary process for most of his imo useless motions. It made me angry though as MT should have been brought to trial ages ago and the Judges allowed the farce of the Schoenhorn clown show to waste time for YEARS. At times watching this play out I wondered if he was simply setting the framework for a future claim of incompetent counsel, it was simply that bad. Even when he did score a win such as with the MT cell phone, it effectively shot his defence in the foot as he had nothing substantive to back up the improbable claim that MT was chattering away on Albany Ave and had no idea what was going on. The lack of the cell phone didn't stop him from making ridiculous claims at trial and I'm glad the jury saw through his poor presentation on the issue.
There were so many pretrial moments with Schoenhorn where I simply prayed for a Judge to stand up and hold him to some level of professional conduct and performance but it simply never happened. The pretrial period was punctuated with motion after motion that were poorly written, poorly presented and with citations that oftentimes bore little relevance to the issue at hand. Just processing the paper generated by Schoenhorn imo was an unnecessary burden on CT as I believe it was intentionally abusive and obstructive and I say this fully recognizing the value of a vigorous defence. The defence of MT such as it was, was imo in no way effective, vigorous or remotely professional.
I think one of the more insane moments was the multiyear quest to have the MT ankle monitors removed. These hearings went on over and over and the Judge had to listen to hours of complaints and view hundreds of photos of MT ankle etc. It was lunacy imo particularly given that MT, a defendant charged with conspiracy to commit murder along with her other 5 charges, was allowed to leave CT and travel extensively during the pretrial period. I think it might have been Judge White who finally stopped the insanity in one of the hearings by saying that there would be no way to adjust the ankle monitor such that MT would be able to fit it into a ski boot and be able to SKI! YES, multiple hearings about the ankle bracelet removal all because MT couldn't ski. Welcome to the world of extreme lunacy and extreme white privilege courtesy of the CT Judiciary!
How many defendants with her similar charges to those of MT are able to jet around the US, attempt to go skiing and take up residence outside the jurisdiction of the charges?
MOO
