Haley pleads guilty in Jennifer Horne death
CBC News | Posted: June 7, 2010 11:17 AM | Last Updated: June 8, 2010
Trial of Desmond Maguire, 2nd person charged with murder, continues
Ashley Haley, one of two Nova Scotians charged with first-degree murder of Jennifer Horne, has pleaded guilty.
Haley, 22, entered a plea Monday as her trial was set to begin in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
A conviction of first-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no eligibility for parole for 25 years.
Justice Richard Coughlan asked Haley repeatedly if she understood the consequences of her plea.
In a wavering voice, she replied, "Yes."
Horne, 20, was reported missing on Dec. 30, 2007, after she failed to show up for work at a seniors' home.
Her body was discovered the next day in a Dartmouth, N.S., apartment shared by Haley and co-accused Desmond Maguire.
Maguire's trial on a first-degree murder charge began with the selection of jurors, a process that will continue on Tuesday. Most of the 600 people called to jury duty were in court Monday morning.
Horne's relatives were not in court, but a family spokesman ran down when he heard about Haley's plea.
Steve Andrews, Horne's step-uncle, said it gives the family "some small amount of relief" and helps everyone to move forward.
"We've certainly been hoping and praying for something like this to happen. And so it's a small victory, I guess, if you want to call it that, as we move forward in trying to resolve this horror show, horrible incident, horrible murder," he said.
Relatives have spoken repeatedly of their concerns about the many delays since Horne's death 2½ years ago.
"We're here to see this through to the end. We're here to see justice served for Jennifer," said Andrews. "Then we can try to put our lives back together again a little bit."
Andrews said his family was surprised to hear about the guilty plea.
"We've been at various court hearings both at the provincial level and the Supreme [Court] level … so there have been other opportunities," he told reporters.
Defence lawyer Kevin Burke said a lot of thought went into his client's decision to plead guilty.
"Obviously a person pleading guilty to first-degree murder, that's not a spur of the moment decision. It's something that has to be planned out very, very carefully not only by my client but by myself," Burke told reporters.
"She's a young girl, I mean she's 22 years of age," he said. "I don't need to tell anyone what a person's state of mind is pleading guilty to first-degree murder, knowing that you're being sentenced to life in prison, without parole for 25 years.
"It speaks for itself."
The details of Haley's case cannot be made public because of a publication ban.
Last month, Maguire and Haley tried unsuccessfully to get their high-profile case heard by judge alone or the trial moved outside Halifax.