A judge balances controversy with compassion.

• Author: Mitchell, Teresa

No person is criminally responsible for an act committed or an omission made while suffering from a mental disorder that rendered the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or omission or of knowing it was wrong.

--Criminal Code of Canada, Section 16

This is known as the "Not Criminally Responsible" principle, or NCR. Deciding that an accused person is not criminally responsible is one of the most controversial and difficult decisions that a trial judge must make. Cases involving NCR often attract a great deal of media attention due to sensational fact situations, and the reasoning behind an NCR finding can be mystifying to the public. Examples include the Vincent Li case, where Mr. Li butchered a fellow traveller on a Greyhound bus, and the case of a Calgary wife who shot her well-known oilman husband. Another such case was heard in Nova Scotia in 2014 (R. v. Race, 2014 NSSC 6 (CanLII)) and the trial judge, Justice Kevin Coady, gave some insight into how a judge reaches this conclusion and his own sensitivity to the emotions and frustrations of the families involved.

Glen Race murdered two Halifax men, Paul Knott and Trevor Brewster in 2007. He pled guilty to both charges and then made an application to be found not criminally responsible (NCR) under s. 16 of the Criminal Code. Justice Coady of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia reviewed the law and the legal requirements for a convicted person to be found not criminally responsible. He concluded that Mr. Race suffered from a mental disorder which made him incapable of knowing that his actions were wrong. Three psychiatrists, both for the Crown and the defence agreed that Mr. Race qualified for a finding of NCR.

An agreed Statement of Facts from the three doctors stated that he suffered from schizophrenia and that he believed that he was a vampire slayer and a godlike entity ordered by angels to cleanse the world of demons and sin. Justice Coady wrote: "After considering all of the evidence, I am satisfied that Mr. Race qualifies for an NCR defence... he suffered from a mental disorder on both occasions, that being schizophrenia. I am also satisfied that Mr. Race, as a result of his mental disorder, did not realize that these actions were morally wrong. I am satisfied that he really believed that they were necessary to achieve his psychotic mission."

The reactions of the families of Mr. Race and the murdered men give some insight into how difficult NCR decisions...