KELOWNA, B.C. – A Kelowna, B.C. man charged with first degree murder in the death a young woman 18 years ago has been found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Neil Snelson, 44, looked directly at the B.C. Supreme Court jury as it delivered its verdict after more than two days of deliberations in Kelowna.
Snelson killed 19-year-old Jennifer Cusworth, whose body was found in a ditch on Oct. 17, 1993, several hours after she’d been at a house party where Snelson was also a guest.
The college student had been beaten on the head with a blunt object and strangled.
DNA evidence found on her body matched that of Snelson. In testimony at his trial, Snelson said he may have had sex with Cusworth, but he didn’t kill her.
He said during the party, he kissed one woman in the backyard and had sex with another woman in his truck a few minutes later but was too drunk to know who she was.
Defence lawyer Grant Grey said his client’s intoxication the night of the killing may have had something to do with the jury’s verdict.
“The judge in her instructions to the jury specifically directed their attention to the issue of intoxication as something that relates to whether or not behaviour that might have otherwise constituted murder was reduced to manslaughter,” he said outside court.
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During the trial, the Crown focused on a belt found near the crime scene, saying Snelson threw it out of his truck after killing Cusworth.
Snelson said the belt belonged to a woman he’d had sex with in his truck a couple of weeks before the party and that he returned it to her, but the woman involved denied having sex with him or leaving a belt in his vehicle.
Court heard that Snelson had arranged to meet friends at a fast-food restaurant after the party, but he didn’t show up. He said he went home instead, arriving there about 5:30 a.m.
Snelson’s then-wife testified the couple heard the next day that Cusworth’s body had been found and discussed the coincidence of Snelson being at the same party.
Snelson, who has four children with his second wife, will be sentenced later.
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