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Suspected wife slayer Kovacich free on $1.5 million bail |
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Written by Sentinel Staff
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Wednesday, 18 July 2007 |
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Paul Kovacich, the pensioned Placer County sheriff’s sergeant accused of murdering his wife a quarter century ago, was keeping a low profile this week after being released from the county jail in Auburn on a record $1.5 million bail.
Kovacich is due in court October 25 for a case status hearing and his trial is supposed to start next March, although his lawyers are expected to request a change of venue before then. Veteran court observers believe that the extensive publicity given the case over the years has diminished the chance of seating an unbiased jury in Placer County.
Paul Kovacich
A gag order imposed by the court after Kovacich’s initial arrest last
September forbids anyone connected with the case from talking publicly
about it other than to disclose information about court dates.
Now 58, the ex-cop is charged with shooting to death Janet Kovacich,
then 28, in September of 1982 and dumping her body in Rollins Reservoir
on the Bear River northeast of Colfax. Janet Kovacich reportedly was
considering divorcing him at the time.
Prosecutors now claim that a partial skull recovered near the shore of
the reservoir more than a decade ago is from her body. They also claim
that a hole in the piece of skull was made by a bullet.
Kovacich came under suspicion soon after reporting his wife’s
disappearance from their home in Auburn’s Skyridge area. Auburn police
investigators said he declined to take a lie detector examination at
the time.
Kovacich’s initial bail was $1 million, and his relatives and friends
were able to cover that amount by pledging real estate as security.
Kovacich was freed in late December and rearrested on a new indictment
this past March.
When Judge Bob McElhanny upped the bail a few weeks ago, Kovacich
contacted his relatives and friends again and asked for help in raising
$50,000, the 10 percent fee needed to obtain a $500,000 bond. They
secured the additional money with credit cards. Frank Calabretta’s Bail
House handled the matter and Kovacich was released from custody last
Friday night.
Retired cops, oldtime lawyers and reporters — and Calabretta, who’s
been in business in Auburn for three decades — could not recall when or
even if a criminal suspect had been released from custody in Placer
County on such a large bail.
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