Kelowna man previously convicted of 2nd-degree murder plans to plead guilty to manslaughter

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Steven Pirko

Two months after the BC Court of Appeal overturned a Kelowna man's second-degree murder conviction, it appears he plans to plead guilty to a lesser charge.

In March, a three-justice panel of B.C.'s highest court overturned Steven Pirko's murder conviction that a jury had delivered back in June 2019, ruling that trial judge Allan Betton's final instructions to the jury about Pirko's defence were “so confusing as to amount to error in law.”

Since January 2020, Pirko has been serving a life sentence with no chance of parole until mid-2028 for the killing of 32-year-old Chris Ausman.

For the past two months, the BC Prosecution Service has been tight-lipped about whether it would proceed with a second trial. But following an appearance in Kelowna's BC Supreme Court Monday, it appears Pirko now plans to plead guilty to manslaughter. And the Crown plans to accept the plea to the lesser charge.

“The accused has indicated to the court that he will plead guilty on July 6 to manslaughter,” said BCPS spokesperson Dan McLaughlin. “The matter will proceed to sentencing on that day.”

Ausman's mother, Annie Hutton, said she just wants the case to be over and done with.

“It is what it is. We just want it done, we don't want any more surprises any more,” she told Castanet Wednesday.

“When that appeal was approved, it was like ripping the Band-Aid off all over again. It was like losing Chris all over again ... As a family unit, we just want it done. This isn't going to make our Chris come back home, nothing's going to change.”

Pirko has been in custody since his arrest back in November 2016, close to three years after he struck 32-year-old Chris Ausman in the head with a hammer three times during an altercation in the early morning hours of Jan. 25, 2014.

During the seven-week trial in the spring of 2019, the jury heard how Ausman and Pirko's friend Elrich Dyck had gotten into an intoxicated fight on Highway 33 in Rutland. Pirko claimed he had struck Ausman with the hammer to defend Dyck, but the jury dismissed his defence and determined Pirko's actions constituted second-degree murder.

While a second-degree murder conviction requires the intent to kill or cause bodily harm that's likely to cause death, manslaughter is defined as homicide without the intent to kill. While manslaughter carries no minimum sentence and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, sentences generally range from four to 15 years.