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The accused, 17 when the crime was committed, plead guilty to second-degree murder last fall. But sentencing has been delayed repeatedly while Crown and defence lawyers waited for reports from psychiatrists and experts in youth rehabilitation.
Provincial court judge Eric Peterson allowed a further delay Monday, after hearing a 43-page report due last week had arrived on lawyers’ desks just that morning. He also called for a detailed implementation plan, which would be followed if he agreed to an intensive rehabilitation program as advocated earlier by defence lawyer Steve Virk of Calgary.
The latest assessment had been expected early this month, but a further adjournment was ordered July 15 when its author missed that deadline.
As well, Peterson set dates for two further court appearances. He’ll hear Crown and defence views on the plan and the reports supporting it, during an afternoon hearing Sept. 9. But he also ordered a brief appearance Sept. 2, to verify details of the implementation plan have been received by the prosecution and defence.
“It’s important to have all the information there,” he said.
Preparing the plan will take at least 25 days, Crown prosecutor Eric Brooks pointed out.
Until he’s read it, Brooks added, he won’t be in a position to decide whether to proceed under young offenders’ legislation, or if he’ll ask for the case to be raised to adult court.
“That’s still a live issue,” the judge observed.
Under federal law, young offenders cannot be publicly identified. The accused, now 18, has remained in a juvenile detention centre in Calgary since shortly after the May 4 slaying last year.
The tall teen was led into the prisoners’ dock here Monday, but he’ll appear on a closed-circuit TV link with Calgary on Sept. 2. Friends of the victim sat quietly through the court appearance.
During an earlier hearing, Brooks outlined details of the murder.
“He took an axe and bludgeoned his mother to death,” he said.
Then he stabbed her with a knife, rolled her into a blanket and tossed her into the basement, Brooks said. Later he called a friend and said he’d killed his mother because she “kept bitching” at him.
Despite a forensic psychiatrist’s assertion that the teen could be rehabilitated, the prosecutor told court the accused had been in and out of counselling programs for years, unsuccessfully working on his anger management issues.
“Past behaviour is a pretty good indication of future performance,” Brooks concluded.
If sentenced as an adult, the teen could be handed a life term with parole eligibility after seven years.
Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, he could be ordered to serve four years in custody, including time in an intensive rehabilitation program in a forensic unit at the mental health hospital in Edmonton. Then he could be sentenced to a further three years of supervision in a community setting.