Gun suspect seeks psych assessment
Marc LeBlanc, 40 - who faces 17 serious charges involving firearms and stolen identity documents - tells court he can’t remember events giving rise to alleged crimes
A lawyer representing a mentally ill man accused of carrying rifles for a dangerous purpose asked a court to order a psychiatric exam to determine the defendant’s state of mind at the time of his alleged crimes.
Marc LeBlanc, 40, of no fixed address, appeared in Fredericton provincial court in person and in custody Tuesday, scheduled to go through a bail hearing.
However, duty counsel Melinda Ponting-Moore said the defendant was seeking to postpone his bail hearing and instead asked the court to order a 30-day psychiatric assessment on the issue of criminal responsibility.
The purpose of such an examination would be to determine if Marc LeBlanc might have been suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the alleged offences that might exempt him from criminal responsibility.
Judge Natalie LeBlanc noted that the defendant faces 17 charges in all, and that they’re quite serious.
He’s accused of the following:
carrying a concealed weapon, a sawed-off rifle, without authorization;
two counts of possessing sawed-off rifles for a purpose dangerous to the public peace;
possessing a loaded, prohibited firearm (a sawed-off rifle) without a licence or certificate;
possessing two sawed-off-rifles while prohibited by a court order, as well as possessing ammunition while prohibited;
being the occupant of a motor vehicle in which he knew there was a prohibited firearm;
possessing an unloaded prohibited firearm (a sawed-off rifle) with readily accessible ammo;
possessing the rifles knowing he didn’t have a licence for them;
storing firearms improperly;
obstructing RCMP Const. Shawn Elhatton in the execution of his duty;
causing more than $5,000 in property damage to a U-Haul moving cube truck;
and four counts of possessing identity documents, namely driver’s licences belonging to Braden Robert Kent, Joseph Frank Levi Lirette and Alex Girouard, and the birth certificate of Joseph Paul Daniel Fougere.
The charges allege Sept. 30 offences in Oromocto.
Ponting-Moore said while it’s unusual for duty counsel to request a criminal-responsibility assessment at such an early juncture in a case, before defence counsel is appointed and before disclosure of the Crown file has been made, she felt such an exam might expedite the case.
“I did get some indicators,” she said.
Marc LeBlanc has had a history of mental illness, Ponting-Moore said, and he’s also been subjected to segregation during past stints behind bars.
That’s been shown to exacerbate mental illness, she argued, noting the defendant is a party to a class-action lawsuit over the practice.
“He’s had a history of assessments in the past,” the defence lawyer said, adding that they’ve all been for fitness to stand trial.
Based on her communication with LeBlanc, Ponting-Moore said, she’s confident fitness isn’t an issue. She’s received clear instructions from him, she said, and he understands what’s happening, what the court process is and who the participants are.
“He tells me he’s recently lost stability in his life,” the defence lawyer said.
“He’s having problems with gaps in his memory at the time.”
Crown prosecutor Jennifer Bueno said she’s concerned with the timing of the request.
“It’s very early in the process,” she said.
The judge said that may be the case, but there’s nothing in the law precluding the ordering of a psychiatric assessment at this point.
However, she said, the law requires that there be an evidentiary foundation before the court for such an exam to be ordered.
Judge LeBlanc said the information before the court at this point doesn’t meet that threshold, but that doesn’t mean the defendant and his counsel, to be named later, can’t bring forward additional grounds to reapply for the assessment order.
The judge set the matter over to Oct. 26, possibly for a bail hearing but also potentially for a renewed assessment application.
She remanded the defendant again until that time.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.