Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Crown drops accessory charge

From the Kingston Whig-Standard Online:

By Sue Yanagisawa

A charge of accessory after the fact to murder was withdrawn Monday in Kingston's Ontario Court of Justice against the girlfriend of Richard E. Smith, three days after Smith was found not guilty of the 2007 murder of Kingston cab driver David Krick.

Laura Clow, 42, was present in the 117 Carruthers Ave. apartment she shared with Smith, 34, on the night of June 17, 2007, when Kingston Police tried to force their way in to prevent what they believed was the destruction of evidence.

About 16 hours after the murder, Smith's neighbours told police about seeing a man in his apartment's bathroom burning what they believed -- and what subsequently proved to be -- strips of cloth.

It was Clow, wearing only pyja ma bottoms, who finally opened the apartment door to officers past midnight that night after they tried to kick it in, having had no luck with banging on doors and windows and loudly announcing their presence. Jurors at Smith's trial were told Smith and Clow were the only occupants of the apartment.

Smith, a parolee at the time, was still subject until late November 2007 to a four-year, eight-month sentence for the knifepoint abduction, sexual assault and robbery of a woman in Milton, Ont. He wasn't charged with the fatal stabbing of 50-year-old David Krick until October 2007, when he was already back in custody on an unrelated charge.

Clow was soon after charged with being an accessory after the fact to the murder, although there were indications during Smith's trial that they were estranged by then.

With his jury acquittal at the end of a five-week trial in Superio r Court, however, assistant Crown attorney Janet O'Brien said in withdrawing the charge against Clow that there was no prospect of a conviction.

suey@thewhig.com

Copyright © 2010 The Whig Standard

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