B.C. JUDGE TURNS DOWN GUILTY PLEA IN DRUG DEATH OF 19-YEAR-OLD ALBERTA WOMAN

A judge refused to accept a guilty plea on Wednesday from a man
accused of letting a woman strung out on heroin die instead of taking
her to hospital.

James Bragdon, who was not represented by a lawyer, originally pleaded
guilty in B.C. Supreme Court to criminal negligence causing death
shortly after Charlene Marie Giest, a 19-year-old from Edson, Alta.,
died of a drug overdose.

Ambulance crews were called to a Kamloops home on the evening of Nov.
21, 2001, after reports a woman wouldn't wake up.

"The woman had a toxic and lethal mix of narcotics in her system,"
said Crown prosecutor Jonathan Oliphant, adding tests revealed lethal
levels of heroin, codeine and methamphetamine.

Justice Richard Blair said he could not accept Mr. Bragdon's guilty
plea because he did not agree he had committed the offence.