LINDSAY TRIAL: Judge orders psych evaluation, but trial will proceed
An admitted murderer will undergo a psychiatric assessment — but not before standing trial next week on a jailhouse stabbing charge.
Mark Lindsay, and Edmonton man standing trial in Kamloops on assault, robbery and weapons charges, confessed on the stand yesterday (Aug. 15) to the 2011 murder in Alberta of his ex-girlfriend.
He also admitted to stabbing an undercover Mountie and, later, a fellow inmate at Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre — but claimed he was acting in self-defence.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Dev Dley ordered today (Aug. 16) that Lindsay undergo a 30-day in-custody psychiatric evaluation.
Such evaluations are often the first step towards an NCRMD (not criminally responsible by way of a mental disorder) finding.
Taking the stand in his own defence yesterday, Lindsay said he had been targeted for three years by a group of "serial killers" who wanted him dead.
He said Turner was one of the serial killers — and "a powerful witch" — leaving him no choice but to kill her pre-emptively.
He also believed the undercover Mountie, who can be identified only as SM, was one of the serial killers. He said SM threatened him using "psychic communications."
As for Fougere, a 21-year-old Kelowna man sharing a cell with Lindsay last fall while awaiting a bail hearing, Lindsay said he was not one of the serial killers. But, he said, Fougere's father was, claiming the two were planning to kill him inside the prison.
Lindsay maintained in court he was not insane.
"Absolutely not," he said, when asked by Crown prosecutor Will Burrows if he had a mental disorder.
"I understand that my actions might not have been the best actions, but at the time I was just — I was scared."
Lindsay's psychiatric evaluation will start at the conclusion of his trial next week, on one count of aggravated assault stemming from the KRCC stabbing.
Defence lawyer Don Campbell said he expects the trial will end much the same way — with a court-ordered assessment.
The assessment will begin at the conclusion of next week's trial.
After that, if doctors decide Lindsay does have a mental disorder, the matter will be back before Dley, who will decide for certain whether Lindsay's motives for the stabbings were due to a psychiatric condition.
If Dley finds Lindsay NCRMD, he will become the property of the province and be held at a psychiatric hospital until the B.C. Review Board decides he can be released into the community.
If he is not declared NCRMD, Lindsay will be found guilty and sentenced.
Lindsay's legal proceedings on his second-degree murder charge out of Alberta — for Turner's death — are slated to begin in January.
The KRCC stabbing trial begins on Tuesday, Aug. 21.
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