A young woman left paralyzed by a shooting in Cole Harbour four years ago has passed away.
Ashley MacLean Kearse died Monday night in hospital in Halifax.
A post on Facebook by a family member said it was believed she had developed blood clots in her lungs.
MacLean Kearse, then 18, was one of three people shot when four masked intruders entered a home on Arklow Drive in Cole Harbour on the evening of Nov. 30, 2014.
Markel Jason Downey of Cole Harbour is awaiting a new trial on three counts of attempted murder and 18 other charges stemming from the shooting. He has a bail hearing next week.
Downey was acquitted on all charges by a NovaScotia Supreme Court judge at his first trial in February 2017. The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal quashed the acquittal this April and ordered a
new trial, which is scheduled to begin next May.
The Crown alleges Downey was the gunman. In addition to attempted murder, he was charged with robbery, break and enter, various firearm offences and breaching a court order.
The identity of the shooter was the sole issue at trial. Prosecutors relied on the testimony of MacLean Kearse, whose spinal cord was injured in the shooting. She said she recognized Downey’s voice from her previous contact with him.
The only forensic evidence against Downey was one particle of gunshot residue found on his right hand more than three hours later.
Public prosecution service spokeswoman Chris Hansen said the Crown still plans to proceed with the retrial.
“As with any prosecution we will be continuously assessing the case, but as of now we will be continuing with the prosecution,” she said. “This presents a challenge, but we will push on.”
She said whether the charges are upgraded will be up to police, “but I would dare say that question is not answerable for weeks or months pending an investigation into the link between her death and the events of that night.”
Downey’s defence lawyer, Patrick MacEwen, said in an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon that he only recently became aware of Kearse’s passing, and “out of respect for her family, I won’t be commenting at this time.”
RCMP spokesman Dal Hutchinson said the investigators in the case will work in conjunction with the medical examiner’s office to determine whether there is any connection between the shooting and MacLean Kearse’s death.
“It’s still part of the same investigation,” he said.
He said there are cases in which homicide charges were laid when someone dies of complications from injuries sustained in incidents that have happened in the past.
“It’s a process, it will take time,” he said.
Last December, the medical examiner’s office ruled that Deanna Conant’s death in February 2017 was the result of complications from being shot by a neighbour in Upper Lawrencetown in June of 1976.
Her killer took his own life before being arrested.
The recorded testimony of people who have passed away or are otherwise unable to testify isoften played at subsequent court proceedings involving the same case. In January, the testimony from two people who had passed away and one who has dementia was played at the murder trial of Leslie Greenwood in Kentville.
Dalhousie University law professor Steve Coughlan said in an email that it’s pretty common to use hearsay from a deceased witness.
“There can sometimes be reliability concerns which prevent its use, but most of the time if the hearsay comes in the form of testimony at a trial — that is, it was under oath and the witness was cross-examined — then it will be admitted.”
