David Simpson, Ashleigh Tschritter and their three children.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Pamela Scott
March 04, 2023 - 6:00 AM
A Clearwater woman convicted of killing her husband had her mistrial application dismissed this week.
The mistrial application was based on a part of Crown prosecutor Danika Heighes' opening statement to the jury at the November 2022 trial in Kamloops court, according to a recently published B.C. Supreme Court decision.
Heighes suggested the jury would hear how Ashleigh Tscritter tried to hide two guns after the shooting, which police later seized from a friend's house. The defence argued any evidence about the two guns would unfairly characterize Tschritter, since she was accused of using a shotgun that wasn't hidden.
Tschritter's defence later applied for a mistrial because the prosecutor told the jury that evidence would be brought up during the trial.
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Neither of the two witnesses Heighes mentioned with knowledge of the two unrelated guns ended up testifying.
Justice Joel Groves warned the jury not to consider anything mentioned in the prosecutor's opening statement that wasn't actually presented as evidence in the trial, the decision said.
The warning would "sufficiently deal with any concerns about possible prejudice," Groves ruled, as he dismissed the mistrial application.
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Tschritter faced a second-degree murder charge for shooting her husband with a shotgun at a Clearwater area campground in 2020. She was convicted of the lesser manslaughter charge by a jury on Dec. 22.
Simpson's body was found along Adams Lake Forest Service Road on Sept. 6, 2020, and Tschritter was charged the next day.
Groves gave his mistrial decision on March 1 in a Kamloops courtroom, more than two months after her conviction.
Tschritter isn't scheduled to be sentenced until March 13.
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