Carjacking suspect deemed criminally responsible
Psychiatric assessment finds Daniel Andrew Murphy, 39, of Fredericton, wasn’t suffering from mental disorder that would absolve him of responsibility
A psychiatric exam has determined a Fredericton man accused of violent crimes and a lengthy flight from police last fall wasn’t so mentally ill that he didn’t understand what he was doing.
A judge ordered last month that Daniel Andrew Murphy, 39, of Trailside Lane in Fredericton, undergo a psychiatric assessment to determine if he might be exempt from criminal responsibility due to a mental disorder at the time of the offences of which he’s accused.
Murphy, a former Fredericton firefighter and former pitcher with the Fredericton Senior Royals, faces serious charges as a result of a bizarre series of events Nov. 2 starting in Fredericton and ending in Salisbury.
He’s accused of robbing Kevin Campbell of a vehicle by making threats of violence, stealing a vehicle belonging to Mikayla Dejong, assaulting Fredericton police officer Cpl. Chris Furlotte with a tire punch, and obstructing Furlotte in the execution of his duties in the Fredericton area.
Murphy is also charged with robbing Holly Girouard by assaulting her with intent to steal, dangerous driving and fleeing from police, just outside Fredericton city limits, also on Nov. 2.
Last month, defence lawyer L.A. Henry applied to the court for a criminal-responsibility assessment.
She filed medical records and letters indicating her client had run out of medications he needed for mental-health issues just before the events of Nov. 2.
Henry said Murphy had lost his medical benefits after he was fired from the Fredericton Fire Department, which led directly to the crimes he was alleged to have committed.
The matter was back in provincial court Thursday, and Judge Natalie LeBlanc said medical staff from the Restigouche Hospital Centre - a secure psychiatric facility in Campbellton that handles such forensic assessments in the province - had filed a report with the court.
Henry - who appeared by telephone, while Murphy appeared in court by video from the Dalhousie Regional Correctional Centre - said she’d reviewed the report with her client.
It found Murphy wasn’t suffering from a mental illness last fall that would exempt him from criminal responsibility.
“We accept the conclusions of the report,” she said, noting Murphy was abandoning the psychiatric defence.
Henry asked that the elections and pleas for the various charges her client was facing be set over to next month.
LeBlanc noted that Henry had been counsel of record on the file since March, and that the case has been dragging on without pleas for some time.
The defence lawyer said the psychiatric assessment had taken priority, but her client would be prepared for election of mode of trial and pleas at the next appearance.
“I echo the court’s concerns, your honour,” prosecutor Derek Weaver said, asking for any delay as a result of this latest adjournment request should be attributed to the defence.
The judge agreed, as did Henry.
LeBlanc said this would be the last adjournment of the pleas, and she set the case over to Aug. 15.
Also set over to that date for pleas were a couple of earlier charges. Murphy is accused of stealing from the Petro-Canada station on Royal Road in Fredericton and assaulting Brandon Peterson on Oct. 7.
The RCMP reported in November that its officers received an alert from the Fredericton Police Force that a suspect - later identified as Murphy - had carjacked the driver of a van in traffic in the capital and sped off in the direction of Minto.
The van made its way on Route 10 to Minto, an RCMP news release stated, and Mounties were able to track the vehicle to that area.
Officers attempted an arrest in Minto, but the suspect fled in another stolen vehicle, the release said, and he led police on a lengthy pursuit on Route 10, then eastward on Highway 2, to the Salisbury area just outside Moncton.
Police were able to halt the vehicle with a tire-deflation device, the RCMP reported, leading to Murphy’s arrest.
He’s remained in custody since that time.
None of those allegations has been proven in court.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.