Benefits loss led to crime spree - defence
Daniel Andrew Murphy, 39, contends disruption in his medications led to carjacking, assaults, chase from Fredericton to Minto to Salisbury on Nov. 2
Defence counsel for a former Fredericton firefighter accused of a bizarre rampage last fall alleged Tuesday when her client was fired and lost his benefits, he lost his mind as well.
Daniel Andrew Murphy, 39, of Trailside Lane in Fredericton, previously pleaded not guilty to a long list of criminal charges, most of which were alleged to have occurred Nov. 2.
Murphy, a former Fredericton firefighter and one-time pitcher with the Fredericton Senior Royals, has been in custody since his arrest on that date.
While Murphy denied the charges in Fredericton provincial court in early May, trial dates haven’t been set as yet, because defence lawyer L.A. Henry had planned to apply for a court-ordered psychiatric assessment for her client.
She did so during a morning court appearance Tuesday, filing documentation in support of the application for the assessment, aimed to determine if Murphy might be exempt from criminal responsibility due to a mental disorder at the time of the alleged offences.
Murphy appeared by video conference from the Saint John Regional Correctional Centre on Tuesday.
He’s alleged to have robbed Kevin Campbell of a vehicle by making threats of violence, stolen a vehicle belonging to Mikayla Dejong, assaulted Fredericton police officer Cpl. Chris Furlotte with a tire punch, and obstructed Furlotte, all in or near Fredericton on Nov. 2.
He’s also denied additional Nov. 2 counts of robbing Holly Girouard by assaulting her with intent to steal, dangerous driving and fleeing from police, just outside city limits in Pepper Creek, as well as a count of driving while suspended.
Among the documents Henry filed with the court was a letter from Dr. Sara Davidson of the River Stone Recovery Centre, which noted she’s been treating Murphy since 2018. The letter detailed several mental disorders with which he’s been diagnosed, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Fired from fire department
The court also received a copy of a Sept. 15 letter from Fredericton Fire Department Chief Dwayne Killingbeck to Murphy, terminating his employment with the department.
Henry said the letter outlines allegations upon which the firing was based - allegations Murphy contests - but it also notes that as a result of the loss of employment, Murphy’s medical benefits ceased as well.
The defence lawyer said that was the root cause of Murphy’s unusual behaviour Nov. 2.
“Based on the fact he no longer had coverage for medications, my client says he could no longer afford his medication,” Henry said.
She filed further documents showing those medications ran out Oct. 17. The defence lawyer said Murphy tried to get some more from a pharmacy the morning of Nov. 2, but he was told to return that afternoon to arrange it.
“And that’s when everything went south,” Henry said. “This issue is the sudden stopping of medication.”
In a news release issued in November, the RCMP said it was alerted by the Fredericton Police Force about a suspect who had carjacked the driver of a van in traffic, forcing him from the vehicle and stealing it.
The release said the van then sped off toward Minto, and Mounties were able to track the van to that area.
Officers attempted to arrest the suspect - later identified as Murphy - in Minto, the release said, but he fled in another stolen vehicle.
The pursuit went southward from Minto on Route 10, then east on Highway 2, all the way to the Salisbury area near Moncton, where the vehicle was stopped using a tire-deflation device, the Mounties reported, and Murphy was arrested.
None of those allegations has been proven in court.
Henry pointed out that Davidson’s correspondence refers to a concern that Murphy could suffer from psychosis if his medications were to be adjusted.
“There is reasonable grounds to believe he was not in his right state of mind that day,” the defence lawyer said.
Substance-abuse snag
But Judge Mary Jane Richards said the documentation also points to a major substance-abuse issue on Murphy’s part. She noted there’s only a single reference to potential psychosis in the documents, but numerous references to illicit drug use and addiction.
The judge said if Murphy’s behaviour was attributable to mind-altering drugs rather than mental illness, the psychiatric assessment would be moot, as an altered state of mind due to drugs doesn’t give rise to an exemption from criminal responsibility.
Richards said if courts send every drug user for forensic psychiatric assessments, the province would have to build an impossibly huge hospital.
“It overloads their system,” she said.
Judges have to be careful not to burden the Restigouche Hospital Centre in Campbellton - the secure psychiatric facility where almost all such assessments are carried out - by sending defendants who don’t really meet the criteria for such examinations, Richards said.
“The behaviours on that day, they are very odd,” Henry said.
“That may be so, but if people are taking drugs…” the judge said.
“I wasn’t,” Murphy interjected.
The defence lawyer said her client had been clean of illicit drugs in the days leading up to the Nov. 2 incidents.
“He had been faithfully following his treatment plan,” she said.
Henry argued the defence need only show there’s a reasonable basis on which to believe there might have been an issue with an accused person’s mental capacity to merit the assessment order, and she contended the documentation she’d filed justified it.
The defence lawyer added that even if Murphy is deemed to be criminally responsible for his alleged actions, the information gleaned through the assessment could be helpful to the court going forward in the case.
Richards agreed the information filed in support of the application met the necessary criteria, and noted that while the prosecution didn’t agree the assessment was necessary, it didn’t object to it either.
The judge remanded Murphy to Restigouche for the assessment and scheduled a hearing to review the results for July 13.
In addition to the Nov. 2 charges, Murphy is also accused of Oct. 7 counts of theft from the Petro-Canada station on Royal Road in Fredericton and assault on Brandon Peterson.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.