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Catty1
10-07-2008, 10:39 PM
(Link also has access to two photo galleries)

http://news.aol.ca/article/accused-in-bus-killing-fit-to-stand-trial/369778/

Accused in Bus Killing Fit to Stand Trial
Source: CBC News
Posted: 10/07/08 8:01AM

A man accused of beheading a passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba was found fit to stand trial in a courtroom in Portage la Prairie, Man., on Monday.

Man Beheaded on Greyhound Bus

A man accused of beheading a passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba was found fit to stand trial in a courtroom in Portage la Prairie, Man., on Monday, Oct. 6. An interim psychiatric assessment was submitted to the provincial court on Vince Li, 40. "He is fit to stand trial," defence lawyer Gordon Bates said Monday outside court. "There is enough evidence to put him on trial for that charge."

An interim psychiatric assessment was submitted to the provincial court on Vince Li, 40.

"He is fit to stand trial," defence lawyer Gordon Bates said Monday outside court. "There is enough evidence to put him on trial for that charge."

The trial will now largely depend on whether experts think Li was criminally responsible for his actions, defence lawyer Alan Libman said.

"That's really the sole issue in this case," he said. "If someone commits an offence while suffering a disease of the mind and they don't know their actions are wrong, they can't be held criminally responsible."

Both the Crown and defence on the case asked the judge not to release the assessment publicly because doing so might jeopardize Li's right to a fair trial.

Graeme Roy, The Canadian Press / AP

The assessment includes information that could taint the jury pool, his lawyer said Monday after the court hearing.

"This should be litigated in court and not the court of public opinion," Libman said.

Crown attorney Joyce Dalmyn said Li's psychiatric evaluation is still ongoing and will not be released at this stage.

"To publish any report at this time certainly would be prejudicial," she said. "It's an incomplete report."

Li did not appear in court Monday. He remains in a Winnipeg hospital and is still undergoing psychiatric evaluation.

His lawyers said he is co-operating with them, and with doctors.

jennielynn1970
10-08-2008, 03:49 AM
Holy crap. How can he be fit to stand trial?? Who, in a normal state of mind, would behave like that???

Catty1
10-08-2008, 05:06 PM
Well...better to have him stand trial and maybe have some answers for the family and friends than to just send him away with no investigation.

I don't know details of how this decision is made...I think it includes an ability to distinguish right from wrong, and real from unreal.

Prayers for both families.

king2005
10-10-2008, 02:01 PM
To be honest it doesn't matter if is in fit or not, talks or not, becuase what he did was so barberic there is no way to make it right period. Which is the really sad part :(

Catty1
10-10-2008, 02:59 PM
Here's part of what Terry's mom said:


The mother of a Manitoba man who was brutally killed on a Greyhound bus this summer says it is "not acceptable" that the man charged in her son's death could be found not criminally responsible, and be put in an institution rather than receive a prison sentence.

http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2008/10/09/carol-dedelley-mclean.jpg
Carol De Delley, whose 22-year-old son, Tim McLean, was killed on a Greyhound bus near Portage la Prairie, Man., in July, is trying to raise awareness about the case. (CBC)

In an exclusive interview with CBC News, Tim McLean's mother, Carol de Delley, said she's worried about the outcome of the case involving Vince Li, who has been charged with second-degree murder.

"The question has become: treatment or punishment? I think it needs to be both," she said.

Rest of story is here: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/10/09/de-delley.html

jennielynn1970
10-10-2008, 03:19 PM
I guess that's part of what I mean... like, how do you punish someone who did something like that, when you know there is probably something mentally wrong with him, YET, you know what he did is so heinous, so unforgivable. How do you get a punishment to fit THAT crime?!

Catty1
10-10-2008, 05:27 PM
The good news - if he is sent to a psychiatric facility, he gets assessed once a year. But he does NOT get to apply for parole.

Lesser of two evils, I guess.