ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - A Pennsylvania woman accused of killing her husband on a Newfoundland hunting trip in 2006 will appear in court Wednesday for a bail hearing.

Mary Beth Harshbarger, 44, appeared in Grand Falls-Windsor provincial court Tuesday on a charge of criminal negligence causing death.

A charge of careless use of a firearm was dropped.

Harshbarger was extradited from the U.S. and escorted by RCMP to Gander, N.L., Tuesday and then to Grand Falls-Windsor about a four-hour drive northwest of St. John's.

"The extradition proceedings determined that she was only to be extradited on the first charge, so we're not able to prosecute her on the second charge," Crown Attorney Karen O'Reilly said in an interview.

"It was barred by the time that had elapsed," she said of the count of careless use of a firearm.

RCMP did not issue a warrant for Harshbarger's arrest until April 30, 2008.

Mark Harshbarger died Sept. 14, 2006, on a hunting trip he had taken with his wife, their young son and daughter in Buchans Junction in central Newfoundland.

Mary Beth Harshbarger told police after the fatal shooting that it was dusk and she thought her husband was a bear emerging from the darkened woods. The sun had set about 25 minutes before she fired the deadly shot.

She described what she saw through her rifle scope as a "big black thing."

Harshbarger also stated she was preoccupied with the couple's young son and daughter who were in a nearby truck.

RCMP staged two re-enactments of the events two days after the shooting and one year later. Officers concluded it was too dark to safely fire a rifle and that it's plausible Harshbarger thought she was looking at a bear, according to U.S. District Court extradition documents.

Her husband was wearing dark clothing and no orange-coloured safety gear.

Harshbarger didn't speak during Tuesday's court proceedings and O'Reilly said the appearance in provincial court before Judge Timothy Chalker was over in a matter of minutes.

"It was long enough for the judge to read the charges, for me to tell the judge that because of the extradition process we couldn't prosecute the second charge so it was being withdrawn, that it is a straight indictable matter, and we were opposed to her release so we were looking for a bail hearing."

Criminal negligence causing death with a firearm carries a penalty of four years to a life term in prison.