EDMONTON — An Edmonton woman has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing of an eight-year-old girl in a case that has seen police publicly challenge Crown prosecutors.
The 29-year-old was charged with first-degree murder but has pleaded guilty to the reduced charge.
Edmonton’s interim police chief earlier made public a letter from his force to Alberta’s justice ministry saying it was aware of the plea deal and urged the Crown to call it off.
The letter challenges the traditional firewall that separates police, who investigate a case, from prosecutors, who determine how best to proceed with the case in court.
It says the significantly reduced sentence that would typically accompany a manslaughter conviction would fail to see justice done in this case.
Police also warned if the plea deal was to go through they would release details of the case so the public could form its own opinion.
The girl, who can’t be identified, died from blunt force trauma and her body was found in the back of a truck on the Samson Cree Nation in Maskwacis, south of Edmonton, in 2023.
More coming.
The Canadian Press
