Reporter's Notebook: Court allows man once diagnosed as 'psychotic' to defend himself
Michael Nehass could face life in prison — he's worried about brain implants and microchips
In court on Wednesday Michael Nehass mentioned brain microchips and mind control.
"I want a lawyer who is not implanted," he demanded of the judge and Crown prosecutor.
Brain microchips don't exist.
But in the Yukon Supreme Court there was no reaction. The court stenographer typed. Justice Scott Brooker allowed it.
The judge accepted it as a court document.
"Yes, it'll even have a court stamp on it and everything," Brooker said to reassure Nehass.
Nehass has a long criminal record, dating back to when he was convicted at age 19 of torturing a Whitehorse man — cutting off his pinky finger and beating him with a baseball bat. He's currently awaiting a sentence for a 2011 knifepoint assault on a woman.
During the last five years in custody — much of that in solitary confinement — he's also been sentenced for assaulting jail guards, setting fires, throwing urine and feces and causing $35,000 in damage at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.
The Crown is seeking to have him declared a dangerous offender, a case anchored on a recently completed 60-page psychiatrist's assessment. The designation would put Nehass in jail indefinitely.
Nehass, 32, is opposing that designation. He's representing himself. The court has offered lawyers but he keeps firing them.
'He's delusional'
Crown prosecutor Eric Marcoux plainly admits Nehass is "delusional." But he says Nehass lives in a legal grey zone.
On one hand, the gaunt man rails against "cyber educationalists," but in court he also follows procedure and speaks respectfully. Nehass even shows an affinity for legalese and uses Latin terms in conversing with the court.
For now, that seems to be enough — Nehass is legally considered fit to represent himself. But that wasn't always the case.
In a 2014 judgment, Yukon Judge Michael Cozens ruled Nehass unfit to stand trial on charges of assault and harassment, among others.
Cozens wrote that it would be unfair to let a delusional man defend himself.
"An accused individual stands against the power of the state with all its resources. To force an accused person to defend himself or herself when he or she cannot participate in a meaningful, (i.e. rational), way, would undermine trial fairness," Cozens wrote.
An evaluating psychiatrist, referenced in the judge's ruling, concluded Nehass was profoundly psychotic.
"His psychosis is manifest through paranoid and grandiose delusions," Dr. Shabreham Lohrasbe found.
"For the foreseeable future, it should be assumed that he would remain delusional unless he receives appropriate treatment."
However, Dr. Lohrasbe did note that Nehass can hold a conversation in court.
"Mr. Nehass appears aware of his status within the justice system and more broadly his 'street smarts' appear intact," he wrote.
Decision overturned
The Yukon Review Board overturned Judge Cozens' decision.
It cited Canada's Criminal Code which defines someone unfit to stand trial as "being unable, due to a mental disorder, to conduct a defence, or to instruct counsel to do so, at any stage of the proceedings before a verdict is given."
Nehass has been defending himself ever since.
In court on Wednesday Nehass insisted he's sane. He said any effort to label him as psychotic is part of a conspiracy against him.
Immediately after saying that, he demanded his next lawyer be free of brain microchips.
Marcoux says the Crown has no plans to challenge the Review Board decision. The issue of Nehass's mental health could be raised by a judge at any time, but so far there's no sign of that happening.
Nehass has called for intervention from the United Nations and the Hague, and has said he wants to reach Canada's defence minister. He has also said he's not a Canadian citizen but instead a "non-treaty Aboriginal person."
The court has appointed what's called an amicus curiae — someone to help it navigate what the judge on Wednesday euphemistically called "non-traditional" legal arguments.
'A pitiful soul'
Supporters of Nehass, including his father Russell Nehass and the Yukon NDP, have said the territorial government has failed to provide him with adequate mental health care. They say prolonged time in solitary confinement has worsened his mental state.
After CBC published a story this week on Nehass's latest court appearance, a reader shared a comment about the reporting.
"He obviously has mental illness — why not report instead on the lack of services for a person like this?" wrote Nichol Pidborochynski.
Pidborochynski says he sees Nehass as a victim and the trial is an example of a failing mental health care system.
"Really it is a pitiful soul who is lost in a system with no help for his mental illness."
Nehass's case has been pushed back to October, while he waits in the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.
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