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May 13, 2008

State Supreme Court: No new trial for David Swain

The state Supreme Court today upheld a lower court’s decision and denied David Swain the chance for a new trial in the wrongful death suit filed by his former wife’s parents.

In 2006, Swain, a former Jamestown Town Council member, was found liable in the death of his former wife, Shelley Tyre. She was an experienced scuba diver who died less than 10 minutes after entering the water with Swain when the two were on vacation in Tortola in 1999.

Local authorities initially ruled her death an accident, but Tyre’s parents filed a civil suit against Swain to keep him from inheriting Tyre’s estate.

Swain did not to have a lawyer during the eight-day trial and did not go to court for the first two days of proceedings. He later represented himself, but put on little defense.

He was found liable, but challenged the Superior Court’s decision, appealing to the state’s Supreme Court for a retrial.

In February of this year, Swain was criminally charged with murder in a British Virgin Islands court after investigators there decided to reconsider the case. He is currently being held in Her Majesty's Prison at Balsam Ghut, in the remote northeast of Tortola.

Extra: Read the Supreme Court's decision (.pdf)

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson, with Journal archive reports

Posted by Brandie Jefferson  at 2:49 PM | Permalink

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Don Lockard | May 13, 2008 5:49 PM link

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