Hearing On Prison Records In Stochmal Murder Case Postponed

By Jack Kramer

Correspondent

A hearing on whether the family of a teenager brutally murdered in 1984 could receive the killer’s prison records was put off on Monday.

The sister of a teenager who was brutally murdered in 1984 was slated to be in front of the state’s Freedom of Information Commission, seeking to get the correctional and disciplinary history of the man convicted of the crime.
But Marianne Stochmal Heffernan said she asked for a postponement when she found out late on Friday that the murderer’s attorney had submitted a new memo to the FOI in the case.

Heffernan said she felt she didn’t have ample time to review the memo before the FOI hearing, so she asked for the postponement.

“I felt I would likely need time to read the memo, research anything I may not know or understand, and prepare to defend against it,” Heffernan said Monday.

Weinberg’s attorney, acknowledging Heffernan’s need to review and possibly respond to the memo, joined in the request for the postponement.

Heffernan was to appear before the FOI seeking information on Weinberg, who was recently released from prison after serving 26 years for the killing of Joyce Stochmal.

Joyce Stochmal was 19 when she was murdered and her body dumped into Lake Zoar in Southbury.

Recently a Waterbury Superior Court judge ordered Weinberg, who was convicted of Joyce Stochmal’s killing, released on time served. The order followed seven years of work by lawyers for the Connecticut Innocence Project, who had discovered problems with the case.
The approval of a “sentence modification” by Waterbury Superior Court Judge Roland D. Fasano allowed Weinberg, 58, to be released after serving 26 years of a 60-year “life sentence” — although credit for good behavior and other time he earned raised the time he is credited with serving to 39 years and 27 days.
The Connecticut Innocence Project got involved in the case in 2010, questioning some of the evidence that it said raised doubts about Weinberg’s guilt. The Innocence Project sought a second trial, but before it was to begin an agreement was reached with Waterbury State’s Attorney Maureen Platt.
The deal was for Weinberg to be allowed out of prison on time served, but that his conviction remained — an important distinction for the Stochmal family.
After Weinberg’s release, which didn’t sit well with the Stochmal family, Marianne Stochmal Heffernan made the request for Weinberg’s prison records.
It was denied by the Connecticut Department of Correction.
Hefferan looks forward to appearing before the FOI, whenever that date comes.
“I will not have legal representation,” Heffernan said. “I am fighting this on behalf of myself, my family, and public at large.
“We, as Connecticut taxpayers, fund the state budget that keeps the prisons running. We fund the budget of the Office of Public Defender. Public records are maintained for the integrity of these public agencies.
“I’ll be there to state my case,” Heffernan said, adding her reason for pressing the matter is she believes it’s her family’s right to know of Weinberg’s behavior history while serving his sentence.
Under the terms of the agreement under which he was released, Weinberg waived “any and all claims” with regard to the most recent court proceedings and any challenge “to the validity of his underlying conviction or sentence for murder.”
According to testimony in his trial, Weinberg drove by Joyce Stochmal as she was walking along Route 188 in Seymour to her job at a dog kennel, carrying her purse and a duffel bag holding a makeup case and a change of clothes, including jeans, a T-shirt, and underwear.
Police said he grabbed her and took her to an area beneath Steel Bridge in Newtown, where he stabbed her 17 times and left her body in Lake Zoar, a dammed section of the Housatonic River bordered by Monroe, Newtown, Oxford, and Southbury.
Her body was found three days later by three people out fishing.