Crown proposes 6.5-year sentence for woman convicted in Jason Skinner's killing

Wanda Ash should see prison time roughly equivalent to the woman who stabbed Jason Skinner to death — even if Ash didn't deliver the fatal stab wound, a Crown attorney argued Tuesday in a Grand Falls-Windsor courtroom.

Ash meaningfully participated in the botched robbery plan and subsequent fight that led to the killing of Skinner, said Crown attorney Tina Walsh at a sentencing hearing Tuesday.

"I think [the sentence] should be on par with what [Pamela] Pike will see," Walsh told Justice Kendra Goulding.

Skinner was killed inside his own apartment in April 2013. According to findings of two court cases, he was using drugs with Pike and Ash when Pike devised a plan to knock him out with a large glass bottle and steal his pills. The plan went awry when Skinner stayed conscious, and Pike stabbed Skinner with a large knife during an ensuing fight in the apartment.

Skinner later died in hospital. Both Ash and Pike were charged with first-degree murder in his killing, but were tried separately. Ash was convicted of manslaughter by a jury in February.

The Crown proposed a sentence of six-and-a-half years in prison for Ash, just one year less than the sentence handed down to Pike in May. Both women have already served some time in jail.

Ash was 'muscle in the room'

In a pre-sentence ruling, Goulding found that while Ash did not actively participate in the planning of the robbery with Pike, she did assist in the crime. Goulding wrote that Ash put Skinner in a headlock during the fight — which helped Pike carry out the robbery.

"Wanda Ash was the muscle in the room when Pamela Pike needed it," Goulding wrote. "When Jason Skinner may have been able to defend himself from Pamela Pike, Wanda Ash took that opportunity from him."

Walsh said Tuesday that Ash's involvement went beyond that of a mere accident, arguing she played a meaningful role in the robbery attempt and fight.

Ash's lawyer, Rosellen Sullivan, instead proposed a sentence of four years in jail. She said Pike and Ash's actions in the incident were completely different, and said it would be unfair to assume Ash would have killed Skinner if Pike had not.

Sullivan also pointed to Ash's cooperation with police officers behind bars, and said that should be considered a mitigating circumstance.

According to Goulding, Pike handed a document to Ash while in jail that was supposed to help coordinate their statements to police. Both women had initially insisted that Skinner was killed in self-defence, and claimed he attacked them first.

Instead of using the document, Goulding said Ash showed it to an officer and handed it to her lawyer.

'I was going absolutely nowhere but down'

On Tuesday, Ash also read a prepared statement to the court where she apologized to Skinner's family, as well as her own.

Ash, who has four children, said at the time of Skinner's killing, she was heavily addicted to drugs and was living in a "junkie's world."

"I was going absolutely nowhere but down," she said, adding that she alienated herself from family and had little sense of self-worth.

"I was involved in an unfortunate situation, that led to an innocent man losing his life. All because of drugs," she said.

She said Skinner's death was a wake-up call for her, and that she's wanted to apologize ever since.

"I cannot even begin to express my sorrow to Jason Skinner's family," she said. "I cannot begin to imagine the heartache they've had to endure."

Ash said her role in the killing of Jason Skinner will never leave her.

"I have to spend my forever dealing with this as well," she read from the prepared statement.

Ash is due back in court on July 24, when she is expected to be sentenced.