Fotis Dulos’ ‘accomplice’ lawyer Kent Mawhinney pleads not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder charges two weeks after his client killed himself awaiting trial over his missing wife’s death
- Mawhinney appeared at Stamford Superior Court in Connecticut on Thursday
- He pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and remains in custody
- He is accused of helping Dulos, who killed himself in January, plot his wife’s murder
- Jennifer Dulos vanished last May but police believe Fotis murdered her
- They never found her body, but say Mawhinney and Dulos’ then girlfriend Michelle Troconis helped him plan it out
- Dulos always maintained his innocence before poisoning himself with carbon monoxide
The lawyer accused of helping Fotis Dulos plot his wife Jennifer’s alleged murder appeared in court on Thursday morning.
Kent Mawhinney is accused of helping Dulos cover up Jennifer’s killing in May last year by providing him with a false alibi.
He pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder on Thursday during a brief hearing before the judge which lasted around 30 seconds.
Prosecutors think he and Dulos – who killed himself before he could stand trial earlier this month – had a pact that they would help each other get rid of their wives.
Kent Mawhinney appeared in court on Thursday to plead not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder charges in the death of Jennifer Dulos
Fotis Dulos killed himself in January while awaiting trial for his wife Jennifer’s death. Jennifer vanished in May and her body has never been found
Mawhinney was in the midst of his own divorce when Jennifer vanished. His wife previously told police she was scared for her life.
Now that Dulos is dead, only Mawhinney and Dulos’ then girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, are alive to answer for Jennifer’s disappearance and presumed murder.
Michelle Troconis, Fotis’ ex-girlfriend, is also charged
Her body has never been found but police think Dulos lay in wait for her in her garage in New Canaan, Connecticut, on May 24 then attacked her and drove her body out of the home in her own car.
Police found large amount of blood in the garage which someone had tried to clean up and they also found traces of blood in the vehicle Dulos was driving the day she vanished.
He vehemently denied having anything to do with her disappearance and claimed he did not know what had happened to her.
On January 30, Dulos was declared dead two days after poisoning himself with carbon monoxide in his garage.
He was on bail for Jennifer’s murder at the time and had left a note protesting his innocence.
The day he gassed himself, he was due back in court for a bond hearing that could have sent him to prison.
They had been fighting over custody of their five children and over Jennifer’s family money for months before Jennifer vanished. She has not been seen since.
The kids now remain in the care of her mother, Gloria Farber.
Mawhinney has always insisted he is innocent.
However authorities say worrying signs suggest he was plotting something sinister.
Prosecutors say he had dug a makeshift grave and filled it with lime – which is known to speed up the decomposition of bodies – before Jennifer vanished.
Mawhinney’s name appears on ‘alibi scripts’ written by Dulos and Troconis, detailing their activities on the day of Jennifer’s disappearance.
Mawhinney in court on Thursday. He maintains his innocence