Ex-Deputy Accused of Wife’s Murder Falls Short in Bail Bid: Values of Properties Are Not Enough to Get Paul Kovacich Jr. Out of Jail.
By Art Campos, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Jan. 18–A former Placer County sheriff’s sergeant charged with the murder of his wife listed as missing in 1982 fell short Wednesday in his attempt to use real estate holdings to post bail.
Paul R. Kovacich Jr. may still get out of jail by combining the value of the property holdings with other options frequently used in posting bail.
Kovacich needs $118,700 in cash, or the use of a bail bondsman, to raise the necessary $1 million bail for his release from the Placer County jail.
If he uses a bail bondsman, he needs to come up with 10 percent — or $11,870 — for release.
Kovacich’s bail situation was discussed Tuesday and Wednesday in Placer Superior Court before Judge J. Richard Couzens, who set the value on five properties owned by Kovacich’s family and girlfriend, who are trying to spring him from jail.
Attorneys in the case — Clyde Blackmon, who is defending Kovacich, and prosecutor Daniel Gong — differed during the two-day hearing on the appraisal of an Arizona home owned by Kovacich’s son, John Kovacich of Scottsdale, Ariz.
An appraiser hired by Blackmon estimated its worth at $950,000. Gong’s appraiser set the value at $670,000.
Gong protested the use of Blackmon’s appraiser, Kevin Fitzpatrick of Arizona, because the latter did not have an appraiser’s license. Fitzpatrick testified that he is an apprentice.
Gong also contended the license of Fitzpatrick’s boss was expired when he signed official documents late last year on the Arizona property’s value. He felt the appraisal on the home should be invalidated.
Documents pertaining to the supervisor’s status were faxed to attorneys, and Couzens did not disqualify the appraisal.
Couzens set the value of the Arizona home at $855,000.
Kovacich, 56, is being prosecuted in a 24-year-old mystery in which his wife, Janet, then 27, disappeared from the couple’s Auburn home.
In 2005, the Auburn Police Department reopened the case for the third time, using advances in DNA and other technology.
In September, the Placer County grand jury indicted Kovacich on a charge of murder, and he was arrested. A judge set his bail at $1 million.
In cases where real estate is used to post bail, the law requires that the value of the holdings be double the bail amount, $2 million in Kovacich’s case.
His parents — Paul and Beulah Kovacich of Lake of the Pines — put up their two homes. The defendant’s girlfriend, Dixie King of Foresthill, put up her home, and Kovacich’s son offered his two Arizona homes.
Together, the homes were valued at $2.56 million by Couzens. Liens subtracted $803,900 from the total, pushing the net equity to $1.76 million.
If Kovacich were to flee while out on bail, his family and girlfriend would lose their properties to Placer County through deeds of trust and promissory notes.
Kovacich will return to court Tuesday for scheduling of his trial.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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