Jury selected in first-degree murder trial
St. Catharines mom Jessica Scanlon found dead in February 2015
The local Crown’s office refused to accept a plea to a lesser offence from a St. Catharines man facing a firstdegree murder charge in connection with the death of a 29-year-old woman.
Jeremy Gough appeared in Superior Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Monday and pleaded not guilty to the charge against him.
From the prisoner’s box, Gough told court he wanted to plead guilty to manslaughter.
Crown attorney Tyler Shuster told Judge Joseph Henderson the Crown would not accept a plea to the lesser offence.
“We will be proceeding to trial on first-degree murder,” the prosecutor said.
Jessica Scanlon, a mother of two children, was found dead in her Chetwood Street home on Feb. 23, 2015.
She worked with special needs adults at a group home in St. Catharines.
An autopsy determined her death was a homicide.
Gough was arrested in March 2015.
In court Monday, the judge told potential jurors the trial is expected to take four weeks.
More than 150 people were included in the jury panel. Twelve jurors — six men and six women — were selected, as were two alternate jurors.
The trial is expected to begin today. Under the Criminal Code of Canada, first-degree murder is defined a culpable homicide that is planned and deliberate. A conviction carries a life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
Manslaughter is defined as a homicide committed without the intention to cause death. Sentences for a manslaughter conviction vary.