Ashley Smith inquest to start again
Posted Aug 29, 2012 04:55:37 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The oft-delayed inquest into the death of Ashley Smith is set to start anew.
Coroner Dr. Bert Lauwers says there will be a hearing in Toronto on Thursday, Sept. 20 for those interested in standing at the inquest into the death of Ashley Smith.
Smith, a 19-year-old from Moncton, N.B., choked herself to death while at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener in 2007.
The troubled teen was transferred between facilities 17 times during the last 11 months of her life, spending much of her time in segregation units.
The inquest began in May 2011 but proceedings were closed the following September after the coroner originally appointed to preside over the case retired.
An official with the coroners office says to apply, you have to be substantially and directly interested in the inquest, which means the family of Smith would be directly interested, while a public interest group would have a substantial interest.
The official tells 570 news that when the inquiry first got underway, there were 13 parties standing at the inquest and he expects them to all apply again.
Smith was first sent to prison at 13 for throwing crab apples at a postal worker but her time behind bars ballooned with a number of in-custody incidents.
