Preliminary hearing into killing scheduled for March

By Delon Shurtz on October 2, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDShurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A southern Alberta woman accused of striking and killing her former spouse with a vehicle more than a year ago, is scheduled to have preliminary inquiry into the matter, but not until next year.
During a hearing Thursday in Lethbridge provincial court, the accused’s lawyer, Scott Hadford, confirmed the preliminary inquiry will run March 9-11, 2022. A preliminary inquiry is typically held to determine if there is enough evidence to warrant a trial.
Whitegrass, who is charged with first-degree murder, assault with a weapon and dangerous driving, has elected to be tried by a Court of Queen’s Bench judge and jury.
Whitegrass was charged March 2 of this year, nine months after police responded to a motor vehicle collision June 1, 2020 involving a pedestrian and accused’s former spouse in an alley along the 900 block of 13 Street South. Thirty-year-old Austin James Forsyth was rushed to Chinook Regional Hospital where he later died.
Police said a woman struck Forsyth with her vehicle while he and another person walked in the alley. The other person walking with Forsyth was nearly struck, as well. The passenger in the vehicle fled the scene, but the driver remained behind and claimed the collision was accidental.
Police said evidence collected at the scene and during an extensive investigation in the following months, led them to believe the incident was intentional.
Whitegrass, a decorated war veteran who was injured while serving in Afghanistan in 2010, was denied bail in April and remains in custody at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre. She appeared in court Thursday by closed-circuit TV.

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