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No jail time after woman pleads guilty in fatal house fire

Feb. 4, 2014, Winnipeg – A 12-month conditional sentence has been handed down to a Winnipeg woman charged in a house fire that killed a 19-year-old New Brunswick man.

Suzanne Eckstein, who is 48, was sentenced Monday after she had previously pleaded guilty to possession of an explosive substance.

Eckstein had originally been charged with manslaughter, arson and conspiracy in the June 2008 death of Kenneth Dunn.

The woman had been accused of planning with Dunn to burn a house for insurance money, but her lawyer said Eckstein was never part of any plot and wasn't at the home when the fire erupted.

Court heard that it's difficult to say how the blaze started, and the only evidence prosecutors had against Eckstein was a purported statement made by the victim to his brother that was deemed very low in credibility at a preliminary hearing.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice James Edmund agreed that "powerful obstacles" existed in the Crown's case and approved a plea deal and resulting conditional sentence.