JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The trial of a Jacksonville mother, who is charged in the death of her 14-year-old daughter, was postponed until Jan. 30.
Jury selection had been slated to begin Tuesday.
Nearly two years ago, Ayva Guthrie was shot in her Arlington home. Investigators said she later died at a hospital.
Amanda Guthrie, the child’s mother, is charged with aggravated manslaughter. According to her arrest report, she told police her daughter had picked up a gun from the top of a TV in her bedroom, had begun playing with it and then handed the firearm over.
The report states the mother said the gun discharged as her daughter gave the weapon back.
Gene Nichols, of Nichols and Pina, LLP, is not affiliated with the case, however, News4JAX consulted him given his background as a Jacksonville defense attorney.
“The real question before this jury is: Was this an accident that went awfully wrong? Because we have the loss of a child and that should never happen. Period. But was it because of an awful accident or was it because the mother was so reckless with this weapon?” Nichols explained.
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Throughout the investigation, News4JAX has remained in touch with the teenager’s father and grandfather.
“There’s no words at all to explain losing your child because of someone else’s actions,” Aaron Begier, Ayva Guthrie’s father, said previously. “She wasn’t sick. She was perfectly healthy. She wasn’t into trouble. She wasn’t hanging out with the wrong crowd. None of that stuff.”
The defense argues that this was an accident. Police noted there was not a magazine in the gun, but that there was one round in the chamber.
Guthrie’s attorney says that a forensic expert reviewed the evidence and believes the bullet ricocheted off the ground before hitting the teen. Nichols predicts that will be a key part of the trial.
“The argument is gonna be was the gun pointed down? And it ricochets — that’s what killed the child, or was the gun pointed at the child?” Nichols said. “That is gong to be a huge part in this case, which we can expect the experts will be back and forth on.”
There is a motion hearing Thursday in the case.