June 19, 2023 at 12:18 p.m.
Overdose death case headed to trial
Overdose death case headed to trial
Jasmine M. Lariviere, 24, is scheduled to stand trial next month in connection with the death of 29-year-old Kyle Polinski. Lariviere was in court Friday morning for a pretrial conference at which time Oneida County circuit judge Mary Burns advised her attorney, Antoni Apollo, that she does not intend to postpone the trial despite the recent filing of a pair of defense motions.
"I did notice that Mr. Apollo has filed two motions, a motion to suppress filed yesterday and a Denney motion filed this morning," Burns said. "These are rather late in the day when we're only a month away from trial," she added.
Assistant district attorney Mary Sowinski, who has taken over prosecution of the case as district attorney Mike Schiek prepares to take the bench, told the court she is prepared to litigate the motions in a timely manner.
"I don't have a problem litigating the two motions that he has raised," she said. "I think, from the state's perspective, the facts don't support them but that's what litigation is for."
At that point, Burns clarified that she does not intend to postpone the trial, which is scheduled to start July 17.
"As far as my calendar goes, there's no way this jury trial is going away," she said. "I'm not going to adjourn it. It's been blocked off on my calendar for months.
"It would take too long for some other judge to get onboard and get up to speed and I think it's unfair to the victim's family to delay it. So I intend for the jury trial to go forward on July 17," she added.
Burns' term in office will end on July 31. She was appointed by Gov. Tony Evers to fill the remainder of the term left unserved following the retirement of Judge Patrick O'Melia last summer.
Schiek will take over as Branch 1 circuit judge on Aug. 1 following the results of the April election.
Lariviere's codefendant, Malik Jones, 24, is serving a prison sentence of 3 1/2 years, to be followed by eight years extended supervision, after accepting a plea agreement with the Oneida County district attorney's office.
Pursuant to the plea agreement, Jones pled guilty to first-degree reckless homicide-drug delivery (as party to the crime) as well as possession of narcotics and schedule IV drugs with intent to deliver.
As part of the agreement, he also agreed to testify truthfully should Lariviere's case go to trial.
Jones and Lariviere were charged with reckless homicide, as party to the crime, last September after toxicology results showed Polinski died from fentanyl toxicity.
"These allegations go back to a death that occurred in April of (2022)," Schiek explained during the pair's initial court appearances on Sept. 19, 2022. "We were waiting for the autopsy report to come back (and) it has now come back. I did talk with the forensic pathologist (and he indicated) the cause of death was fentanyl toxicity."
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid analgesic 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine.
"We also have the test results back from the substance that was located next to the victim as well as some technology information that addresses placement of the two co-defendants with their phones in close proximity of his house," he added.
Shortly after Polinski died, police received information indicating a crime may have occurred and that Jones and Lariviere might have been involved. Law enforcement later obtained a warrant to place a GPS device on the couple's vehicle and track their movements.
The two were arrested in early May 2022 following a traffic stop. At the time, they were under bond and/or probation conditions prohibiting them from having any contact.
Various amounts and types of illicit substances were found in the vehicle during the traffic stop, including pills located inside Lariviere's purse. According to the complaints, the pills matched the description of the pill Lariviere and Jones told police they delivered to Polinski. The pills were sent to the state crime lab for testing and came back positive for the presence of fentanyl, according to the complaint.
According to testimony during Jones' preliminary hearing, Jones and Lariviere purchased what they were told were Percocet pills from a contact outside of the area and traveled to Oneida County to deliver one of the pills to Polinski.
The police interviews indicate Jones and Lariviere believed the pills were Percocet but were aware that there were "fake Percocet" pills circulating at the time.
In its motion to suppress, the defense is seeking to bar prosecutors from using statements Lariviere made to police following the traffic stop in May 2022. In the Denney motion, the defense is asking to be allowed to argue that a third-party perpetrator gave Polinski the drugs that ended his life. The motion names two individuals described as associates of Polinski.
A hearing on the motions is scheduled for June 22 to be followed by a final pretrial conference on July 11.
Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].
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