Smith family wants inquest to restart with different Coroner

The family of a troubled New Brunswick woman who strangled herself in an Ontario prison four years ago wants a new start to the long-delayed inquest that’s looking into her death.

Ashley Smith, 19, was able to choke herself to death with a piece of cloth at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener in 2007.

The inquest into her death began in May, but took a break for the summer and resumed last Monday under a new Coroner: Dr John Carlisle.

Smith family lawyers presented a motion today that challenged Carlisle’s jurisdiction to preside over the trial. Julian Falconer says they want the proceedings to start fresh under the new Coroner – and they want to recall all evidence heard during the proceeding.

“We think there’s real legal problems with attempting to inherit the proceeding at the stage that we’re at, we’re suggesting that we start over and if we can keep the jury that’s what we’d prefer, the members of the jury were wonderful, and we’d like to keep them, at the end of the day what is most important is that we proceed in a legally valid way.”

It’s not clear how long Doctor Carlisle will take to rule on the motion to restart the inquest.

Video: Evening News coverage: