}

Total Pageviews

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

KARI SONOVICH ASSERTS 5th, 6th AMENDMENT RIGHTS:Could "Let's-Make-A-Plea-Deal Land" Be The Next Stop On This Justice Train?

California resident Kari Sonovich, arrested on February 6 on three counts of mail fraud, has officially asserted her 5th and 6th amendment rights. 

In a document filed in United States District Court's Eastern District of California on the day of her arrest, but just made public last week, Sonovich officially asserted her rights to "remain silent and have counsel present at any and all interactions with the government of the United States" or law enforcement officers.

According to allegations detailed in the January 30 indictment (unsealed after her February 6 arrest), between July 2008 and April 2009, Sonovich recruited investors to invest with her Las Vegas company, B&B Consulting Group LLC, by telling them she could place their funds with an international trader who operated at an extremely high level, promising returns of up to 500 percent every 90 days.

When investors deposited funds with her, Sonovich kept some or all of the funds for herself. The indictment alleges that Sonovich received more than $3 million from investors. To date, no investor has received the promised returns, and in most or all instances, no investor has received any of their initial investment back.


The Sixth Amendment right to counsel was initially intended to make sure that defendants could have an attorney when they went to trial. In fact, the relevant language in the Sixth Amendment simply states, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.”

Over the years, however, the United States Supreme Court expanded this right to cover certain “critical” confrontations between suspects and officers or prosecutors. 


As the Court explained in its United States v. Ash (1973) decision:

This extension of the right to counsel to events before trial has resulted from changing patterns of criminal procedure and investigation that have tended to generate pretrial events that . . . might well settle the accused’s fate and reduce the trial itself to a mere formality.

Critical pretrial events consist of, (1) police interrogations, (2) questioning by police agents, (3) lineups, (4) consent searches, and (5) plea negotiations.
 

Hmm? A plea negotiation might be just the thing—Miss Fortune hears this songbird might be getting ready to "sing"!

1 comment:

  1. I worked for her Mortgage Company in Vegas and she is as shady as they come. This is not her first indictment either.

    ReplyDelete