Hyde fatality inquiry resumes

An inquiry resumed Monday into the death of Howard Hyde, a Nova Scotia man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia who died in custody 30 hours after he was shocked with a Taser.

The inquiry heard from Cheryl Byard, the Crown attorney who recommended Hyde be released on certain conditions the day before he died in police custody.

"I was agreeing to release him on certain conditions," she said Monday. "I have to keep in mind that the protection and safety of the alleged victim was also on my mind."

Byard told the inquiry she would have released Hyde into a family member's care with a $1,500 surety. She testified that Hyde did not appear in court until late in the afternoon and that he did not instruct the duty lawyer to make arrangements with his family to get him out.

"When I heard that he couldn't meet those bail requirements by the end of the day and would have to go to the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility, it caused me to wince because he had been through quite an ordeal," she said.

Byard said she felt there were no probable grounds to ask for a court-ordered psychiatric assessment because Hyde had been medically cleared by the hospital and was not displaying any outward distress.

Over the summer, a doctor who treated Hyde testified that she ordered he be returned to the hospital if he didn't undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Those instructions were not relayed to the Crown attorney and Hyde was never taken back to the hospital. Instead, he ended up at the jail.

The inquiry has also heard that Hyde's widow told police that he was schizophrenic and off his medications but that information wasn't passed on to the booking officers at police headquarters.

Kevin MacDonald, a lawyer for Hyde's family, said the inquiry will look at the final hours of Hyde's life and why a psychiatric assessment ordered by a doctor was never conducted.

Hyde, 45, was arrested on Nov. 21, 2007, and taken to police headquarters in Halifax, where officers used a Taser on him at least twice. He died at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility 30 hours later after a struggle with guards.

A coroner determined that Hyde died of excited delirium due to his mental illness, and declared his death an accident.

Health workers at the jail and the Crown prosecutor who handled Hyde's case are expected to testify in this round of the fatality inquiry.

This part of the inquiry runs until Oct. 30. It will break for several weeks and resume again on Nov. 30.

Judge Anne Derrick, who is overseeing the inquiry, can make recommendations relating to any matter that arises during the proceedings.