Man who killed two Halifax men not responsible for his actions: psychiatrist

HALIFAX – An expert on forensic psychiatry says a man who has pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing two Halifax men in May 2007 should be declared not criminally responsible for the crimes because of his severe mental illness.

Dr. Stephen Hucker, a professor at the University of Toronto, told a Nova Scotia Supreme Court hearing in Halifax that Glen Race has likely suffered from psychotic symptoms associated with schizophrenia since 2001.

Hucker says when he first spoke to Race about the murders of Paul Michael Knott and Trevor Brewster in late 2007, Race showed a chilling lack of emotion.

The psychiatrist also testified that even though Race appeared outwardly stable after the killings and managed to flee 5,000 kilometres to the Mexico border, he couldn’t be held responsible for the murders because his illness left him incapable of appreciating that what he did was morally wrong.

Hucker says when he asked Race if he was responsible for what happened to his victims, Race said he was ordered by heavenly commands to kill demons.

Race, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was a young man, was extradited from the United States in October 2010 to face the charges of first- and second-degree murder in Halifax.

At the time of his extradition, he was serving a life sentence for the 2007 shooting death of Darcy Manor in New York state.