Jen Shah ‘ s lawyers were hoping for a full dismissal with this move, but the judge in the case wasn’ t feeling particularly generous about the legality of it…
On Friday, the embattled Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star found out that federal judge Sidney H. Stein was not going to dismiss the fraud charges against her, despite her lawyers arguing that the forthcoming Hulu documentary covering the girl alleged actions could have possibly tainted the jury pool against the high-profile defendant.
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It all started, according to court documents first obtained by People , when Jen’ s attorneys claimed that the streaming platform’ s new documentary The Housewife & The Shah Shocker has supposedly “ destroyed any chance that Ms. Shah will have a fair trial with an impartial jury. ” Citing the popularity and ubiquity of the doc , the lawyers argued that charges against Shah ought to be dismissed due to the particular possible tainted jury after the doc’ s release.
Determine Stein wasn’ t feeling typically the request in the slightest, though. In a ruling reflecting what went down with both the Hulu doctor and the behavior of Homeland Security Investigations agents in the case, Stein ruled definitively that none of the actions would “ interfere with [Shah’s] fair trial or otherwise prejudice this due administration of justice. ”
The federal judge, writing in an order filed in the U. S. District Court for the Southern Area of New York, went on from there, adding these words according to the court docs (below):
“ Dismissal of an indictment is an extreme sanction that is to be utilized only in the rare case. There has been no evidence whatsoever proffered to suggest that Shah’ s right in order to a fair trial has been compromised or prejudiced in any respect. An appropriate voir dire of potential jurors will be able to determine if the jury pool has been tainted in any way [by the documentary]. ”
Interesting!
The 48-year-old reality TV star had already been requesting a dismissal after often the Hulu documentary was first announced, claiming that the very presence of that (very) public piece of entertainment was damaging to her case , and would “ severely jeopardize” the woman right to a fair trial in the form of a biased juror pool.
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Of course, as we’ ve recently been reporting, the RHOSLC star was arrested back in March for allegedly scamming hundreds of people out of money in a telemarketing scheme supposedly also involving her assistant , Stuart Smith . Shah and Smith have since been charged along with conspiracy to commit wire scams and conspiracy to commit cash laundering. They initially both pled not guilty , although in November, Shah’ s assistant Smith changed his plea to guilty and is currently awaiting sentencing in the case.
It appears right now at least as though Shah is more focused on going to trial in the situation. If convicted, though, the charges come with a hefty punishment, including up to 30 years in prison.
[Image via Bravo/ YouTube ]
The post Judge Denies < i> Real Housewives Associated with Salt Lake City< /i> Star Jen Shah' s Request To Dismiss Fraud Charges appeared first on Perez Hilton .
