Accused in drug-house sweep back in jail on new charges
Jail term served for manslaughter
Just a week after being released on three counts of possessing drugs for the purpose of trafficking, Natalie Rochelle Pasqua was back in jail for possessing marijuana and four breaches of her release conditions.
Pasqua, 31, who made her first appearance on Monday by video on the new charges, was arrested last Wednesday for having the illicit drug in her possession, not keeping the peace and having contact with two of her co-accused.
She and five co-accused were arrested on March 13 at a suspected drug house in the 600 block of 1st Avenue N.E. It was just a month after she completed serving a sentence for manslaughter for pushing Calgary teen Gage Prevost into the path of a C-train five years ago.
Provincial court Judge Jim Ogle severely criticized the strength of the Crown’s case against Pasqua and four others when he released them on April 4.
Ogle released Pasqua and Cheyenne Drake each on $3,000, with no deposit. Brent Dustin Bull, Kateri Desjarlais and Paul Glen Mcmaster were each released on $200 cash.
Angela Wolfleg was previously released by another judge on similar conditions.
Pasqua faces the initial three drug possession charges and possession of proceeds of crime related to the drug house raid last month.
Court records did not specify with which co-accused that Pasqua had contact, but Paul Glen Mcmaster also made his first appearance on Monday from the Calgary Remand Centre facing numerous new drug and breach of release conditions.
All of the accused persons, including Pasqua, are scheduled to be back in court on Tuesday to face their initial charges. They were released on conditions that they reside where approved, have no contact with each other, not be within three blocks of the alleged drug house, and not consume any alcohol or non-prescription drugs.
Police had seized cash, crack cocaine and oxycodone, a highly addictive prescription painkiller, in the raid.
Pasqua pleaded guilty to manslaughter for pushing Prevost, 17, between two cars of a C-train during a fight over drugs at a downtown LRT platform on Aug. 1, 2007.
A jury had originally convicted her of second-degree murder in 2008 and she was handed a life sentence with no chance of parole for 12 years.
But in early 2009, the Alberta Court of Appeal awarded her a new trial, saying the trial judge erred in his instructions to the jury.
She was twice returned to prison for breaching conditions after she was released on parole and community supervision prior to the end of her sentence.
Pasqua was again freed on statutory release in December. Her sentence expired at the end of January and she was no longer under any kind of supervision when arrested last month.
She will be back in court on Wednesday to speak to bail on the new charges.