Whether it is due to the effects of a pandemic or a nationwide high-profile homicide event, the case against Gareth Pursehouse, the alleged murderer of renowned California sex therapist and North Penn High School graduate Amie Harwick, 38, continues to drag on in Los Angeles County court, 11 months after her death.
A preliminary hearing setting or resetting is scheduled Friday at 8:30 a.m. at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles County, according to court records. Per the rules of The Superior Court of California, defendants are arraigned and enter a plea, and then the court schedules a preliminary hearing setting, where a preliminary hearing date is set.
A representative in the communications office at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center said Monday that three things can occur at the preliminary setting or resetting: a preliminary hearing date can be set, the preliminary setting can be postponed, or the case can be dismissed. At the preliminary hearing, a judge may or may not find enough evidence against Pursehouse to set the case for trial.
Pursehouse, 41, was charged Feb. 15, 2020 with murder with malice, and first-degree residential burglary with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony, according to court records. Pursehouse pleaded not guilty to both charges on April 16, 2020. The preliminary setting has been rescheduled six times since June 24, according to court records.
An autopsy of Harwick by The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner determined the primary cause of death was blunt force injuries to the head and torso.
Pursehouse allegedly strangled her first before throwing her over her third-floor balcony of her Hollywood Hills home, authorities said.
Pursehouse was released in February 2020 on a $2 million bond but was rearrested on a no-bail warrant. Pursehouse is currently in jail.
Prior to her murder, a restraining order Harwick filed against Pursehouse had expired.
Harwick got engaged to “The Price Is Right” host and comedian Drew Carey in 2018, but they split less than a year later.
Harwick was born May 20, 1981 in Sellersville, Bucks County, was raised on Lansdale Avenue in Montgomery Township, and graduated from North Penn High School in 1999. She studied psychology at California Polytechnic University and earned a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University. Harwick attained a Ph.D. from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.
She published a self-help book, “The New Sex Bible for Women: The Complete Guide to Sexual Self-Awareness and Intimacy,” in 2014.
See also:
North Penn Grad Amie Harwick, Ex-Fiancée Of Drew Carey, Killed In Hollywood, Police Say
Obit: Amie Nicole Harwick, Therapist and Author, Dies at 38
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