Plea bargain in works for C-Train death suspect

A woman who was granted a new trial after being convicted of fatally pushing a Calgary teen into the path of a C-Train will likely plead guilty to manslaughter, according to reports.

A plea bargain will allow Natalie Pasqua, 28, who was originally charged with second-degree murder, to plead guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter, her lawyer was quoted as saying in local reports.

Crown and defence lawyers told a Calgary judge on Friday that the two sides are working on an agreed statement of facts, and that the case will not go to trial.

"This is an outrage," Dale Prevost, father of the teenage victim, told reporters after Friday's court proceedings.

Pasqua, 28, was convicted of second-degree murder in February 2008 in the death of Gage Prevost, 17.

A jury believed that she purposely pushed the teen into a C-Train as it pulled into a downtown C-Train station on Aug. 1, 2007. Prevost fell between two train cars and died instantly.

Pasqua was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a minimum 12 years.

This June, Pasqua won a new trial when the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that she received an unfair trial due to a combination of errors made by the original trial judge.

Pair clashed over drug deal

Court heard that Prevost and Pasqua were fighting over a $10 drug deal in front of rush-hour commuters on the Eighth Street S.W. C-Train platform.

The teen pushed Pasqua onto the tracks. She climbed back on the platform and struggled with Prevost before pushing him twice into the oncoming train, witnesses testified.

Pasqua told the court the deadly shoving match was an accident and she never intended to kill the teen. She admitted she was a cocaine addict, but was sober at the time of the incident.

The matter returns to court on Nov. 6.

A sentence for manslaughter ranges from a suspended sentence to life in prison.