Family of Murdered Valley Girl Waits for Prison Record Ruling

Fighting for the rights of a teenage Valley girl murdered decades ago is something that Marianne Stochmal Heffernan never gets tired of. The sister of Joyce Stochmal (in photo above) feels strongly that she must continue to fight - and she will.

But that fight can be a bit frustrating at times.

Late last year the Stochmal family - mostly Marianne - spent two days in front of the Freedom of Information, asking to see the prison records of the convicted killer.

The family thought the hearings went well - but - they're still waiting to see if they won.

Heffernan has been asking the FOI, and hearing officer Valicia Harmon, for information on the prison records of David Weinberg, who was recently released after serving 26 years for the killing in 1984 of 19-year-old Joyce Stochmal, Heffernan's sister. She was abducted, beaten and stabbed before her body was disposed of in a lake in Newtown.

Heffernan believes the prison records are "public records" and her family is entitled to see what type of prisoner Weinberg was while behind bars.

On a Facebook page that Marianne Heffernan calls "Justice for Joyce" she shared some of her frustration in her family's long wait for a decision this week.

Read below:

"FOI Update!

"Nothing. I got nothing."

“That's because the FOI case is still waiting for the hearing officer to file her decision, and then to be scheduled for the FOI Commission to take up and decide upon.

“If you don't remember what this is about, that is not hard to believe. My complaint to the FOI goes back to April 23, 2017.

“David Weinberg, convicted murderer, was released from his life sentence on March 2, 2017. I requested his Department of Corrections file - the information that is considered "public" and was denied, because the Public Defender's office objected.

“It is unclear why they were allowed to object, or how they even learned of my request, considering Weinberg was no longer under the Public Defender's authority (or the state's, for that matter), but I filed my complaint and was denied, and forced to go to a hearing. The hearing was in August. It went overtime and had to be continued to September. I was given some documents after that hearing, but not the full documents I am entitled to by law.

“And so we wait. Still.

“This is our state government at work - leanly staffed, overflowing with requests that cannot be processed in a timely fashion.

“Meanwhile, the murderer, David Weinberg, is living free and clear in our state of Connecticut. Does he live near you? How would you know? Convicted murderers do not have to "register" so that authorities know where they live or so that innocent people can check to see if they are neighbors of a killer or a psychopath or whatever. Sex offenders must register; convicted murderers do not have to.

“Think about that for a minute.

“And still, we wait.

“When I last checked on the status of the decision by the FOI hearing officer, I was told she had three cases ahead of mine to write decisions on. That was in December.

“That's the update. No decision yet.

“Meanwhile, the murderer, David Weinberg, is part of our Connecticut community. Somewhere. Have you seen him? Maybe. Maybe not. I don't need to know if you have. But our state legislators should care. Do they?

“Not unless we enlighten them and demand that they work for laws that protect us from the likes of Weinberg.

“I'll keep you posted."