Not guilty plea from Across the Mountain

A Lethbridge woman whose charge of second-degree murder was downgraded during a court hearing earlier this month, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.

Jillian Wendy Across the Mountain, who offered the plea Monday during a brief hearing in Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench, also elected to be tried by a judge and jury. Now she hopes to be released from custody while she waits for trial, and a bail hearing has been set for next Monday.

Across The Mountain, who appeared in court in person and smiled to a group of people as she was led into the prisoners’ dock, is accused of stabbing to death her partner, 56year-old Frances Candice Little Light, who was severely injured when she was found by emergency personnel in a westside apartment on the evening of Feb. 7, 2016. She died a short time later.

Police reported Little Light and the accused were intimate partners and had lived together in the apartment where the victim's body was found. The pair had been involved in an argument shortly before Little Light's death.

Police recovered the weapon they believe was used in the incident a short distance away from the apartment complex. And while they initially sought 54-year-old Across the Mountain as a person of interest — not as a suspect — as early as Feb. 10, they ultimately arrested her May 30 as she was being released from jail on unrelated matters.

Follow @DShurtzHerald on Twitter