KELOWNA — There will be a “change of venue application”, as the man granted a new trial in the cold-case slaying of a young woman wants the case moved out of Kelowna.
In October 2011, Neil George Snelson, 45, was found guilty of manslaughter for the death 18 years earlier of Jennifer Cusworth.
The 19-year-old college student had been strangled, bludgeoned and left in a roadside ditch.
Snelson was recently granted a new trial, after the Court of Appeal ruled parts of his statement to police should not have been admitted as evidence.
Snelson’s lawyer wants the second trial held somewhere other than Kelowna, arguing media publicity from the first trial precludes Snelson from getting an unbiased jury and a fair trial the second time around.
Wherever the trial is held, Cusworth’s mother, Jean, vows to be there every day.
“I would prefer it be Kamloops. If it’s at the Coast, it’ll be very difficult for witnesses to get down there for the trial.”
The change of venue hearing is next month in Kelowna.
Despite having his manslaughter conviction set aside, Snelson remains in prison, having not yet applied for bail pending the second trial.
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