EDMONTON — An Edmonton woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter in the killing of an eight-year-old girl in a case that exposed in public long-standing tensions between police and Crown prosecutors.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Jody Fraser accepted the plea from the 29-year-old, who police said was originally charged with first-degree murder but the Crown said faced a charge of second-degree murder. A date for sentencing is to be set later.

Relatives chanted “no justice, no peace,” as they filed out of court.

The plea came a day after interim Edmonton police chief Warren Driechel made public a letter from his force to Alberta’s justice ministry saying it was aware of a plea deal for manslaughter and an eight-year sentence, urging the Crown to call it off.

The letter challenges the traditional firewall that separates police, who investigate a case, from prosecutors, who determine how best to proceed with the case in court.

The letter says a significantly reduced sentence would fail to see justice done in the killing.

It also warns if a plea deal goes through, police would release more details of the case so the public can form its own opinion.

The courtroom filled with sobs following the plea, as a prosecutor read an agreed statement of facts detailing chronic abuse and neglect of the victim while in the care of the accused.

The girl, who can’t be identified because of a publication ban, lived with the woman from September 2022 until her death from blunt-force head trauma in April 2023.

Court heard the woman, who also can’t be identified, was drinking alcohol and using methamphetamine the night the girl died.

The Crown said the girl was found lying on the floor bleeding next to a hole in the wall, but it’s not known how she sustained her head injury.

The accused didn’t call 911 and instead phoned acquaintances for help.

The child’s body was later found in a hockey bag in the back of a truck on the Samson Cree Nation in Maskwacis, south of Edmonton.

An autopsy showed she had multiple broken bones that had previously healed. She had also been suffering from sepsis because of an untreated infected tooth, which reduced her chances of surviving the head injury.

“That’s not manslaughter!” yelled some of the girl’s family as the details were read.

Later outside court, an aunt of the victim said a manslaughter plea is unacceptable.

“We don’t feel like justice was served here today,” she said. “We are broken, we are devastated, and we feel like we have been silenced for the past two years.”

Other family members said they trust the police and appreciate what they’re doing.

“They’re our voice right now,” said one relative.

After the hearing, Megan Hankewich, head of legal services for Edmonton police, said: “We believe (the justice system) has failed today.”

Hankewich acknowledged it was an extraordinary decision for police to take their concerns public via the letter.

But she said it was a last, desperate, necessary measure given the severity of the crime, the young victim, and because police were fed up with being kept in the dark by prosecutors on the case and on developments in other cases over a long period of time.

“This is not the first straw,” Hankewich told reporters. “We’re out of other options to try to improve the justice system.

“It’s all of our duty – the police, the Crown, the public – to fight for a better justice system.”

She added, “We very much hope to never have to do (the public intervention) again.”

Asked why the chief wasn’t speaking to the issue, Hankewich, a former prosecutor, said she has specialized knowledge and “the chief doesn’t come and speak on every issue that comes up.”

She said police will not release further details of the case for now, as it’s still before the courts with publication bans in place.

“Full details of the file will need to come out in the fullness of time,” she said.

In Calgary, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she’s glad police tried to intervene.

“I think that if the Crown prosecution service declines to prosecute or take things to trial, they need to go public with their reasons, so that people understand why they feel that there was not a reasonable likelihood of conviction,” Smith told reporters.

“People want to see that people are going to be punished to the maximum capable under the law, and sometimes that can only happen with a trial.”

Prosecutor Terry Hofmann told court there is no agreed sentencing recommendation. He added that public commentary on the case could prejudice the right to a fair trial for other accused.

In total, five people were charged in relation to the girl’s death.

Two men pleaded guilty this summer to causing an indignity to a body and were sentenced to nearly three years. They were given credit for time served and released.

Two others are charged with being an accessory to murder and causing an indignity to a body.

Shawn King, president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association, has called the police letter essentially an “extortion tactic.”

“This is extremely inappropriate,” the defence lawyer said Tuesday. “They’re in charge of doing these criminal investigations and handing the evidence over to the Crown prosecutor to deal with it unbiasedly.

“And now the police are directly interfering with the Crown’s authority to proceed as they see fit, like they’re quasi-ministers of justice.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2025.

— With files from Matthew Scace in Calgary