Leclair trial moved to October in Lake Erie homicide

This article was originally published on GoErie.com on March 28, 2018

The homicide trial for Christopher S. Leclair in his wife’s death on Lake Erie has been moved to October.

Leclair, 48, had been set to face trial in early April on charges including homicide, abuse of a corpse, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence and possessing the instrument of a crime.

Erie County President Judge John J. Trucilla postponed the trial, with jury selection now set to start Oct. 8, following a defense request for additional time to review evidence in the case.

Leclair’s court-appointed lawyer, Bruce Sandmeyer, also said additional time was needed because a defense expert is still reviewing evidence from the autopsy of Leclair’s wife, 51-year-old Karen Leclair.

Pennsylvania State Police accuse Leclair of shooting his wife in the head on June 10 while the couple was out on Lake Erie in their commercial fishing boat, the Doris-M. Karen Leclair’s body was discovered by a boater about 6 miles off the coast of Dunkirk, New York, on July 4. Her body had been bound with ropes and weighted down with a small anchor.

The Erie County District Attorney’s Office has said that it will seek a first-degree murder conviction against Christopher Leclair. He remains in the Erie County Prison without bond.

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