What the jury didn't hear: Accused double murderer likely faking psychotic illness
Meghan Grant | CBC News | Posted: March 28, 2018 10:48 PM | Last Updated: March 29, 2018
Selma Alem and Julie Tran were found dead in northeast home in October 2015
UPDATE: On Wednesday evening a Calgary jury found Emanuel Kahsai guilty of murdering his mother and a disabled woman she cared for. Jurors deliberated about seven hours before reaching the verdict.
The original story appears below.
During his three-week murder trial, Emanuel Kahsai shouted "coward" at the judge, requested the assistance of the U.S. Army and had to be kept in a separate courtroom. But what jurors were not told was that medical professionals believe he is faking a psychotic illness in order to derail his trial.
Kahsai, 32, is on trial on two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of his mother, Selma Alem, 54, and a disabled woman she cared for, Julie Tran, 25.
Jurors have now heard all of the evidence and began deliberating at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Because the jury is sequestered, what transpired when the jury was not in the courtroom can now be revealed.
The accused had to be kept in a separate courtroom during the proceedings because of his frequent disruptive behaviour. He grunted, shouted at jurors to call the FBI and the U.S. Army and ranted about telepathy. The self-represented Kahsai could see and hear the proceedings but jurors could not see or hear him.
The women died in October 2015. They had been stabbed to death and their blood was found on Kahsai's shoes when he was arrested hours after the bodies were discovered. He had recently threatened to kill his mother.
Although they inquired about his mental health, jurors were never told Kahsai was not only found to be mentally fit to stand trial three times, the forensic psychiatrist who assessed him concluded he was faking his symptoms.
In a 2016 phone call with CBC News from the Calgary Remand Centre, Kahsai said he understood a defence of not criminally responsible (NCR) by reason of mental illness could keep him out of prison, and said he was told through telepathy that an NCR defence was the plan for him.
During the trial, Justice Glen Poelman displayed stoic patience as Kahsai, on several occasions called him a "coward" and a "f**king criminal."
When the accused was given the chance to speak or ask questions of a witness, he would begin ranting — and Poelman would order Kahsai's microphone disconnected.
Over and over again, each time he was given the chance to speak, Kahsai grunted and rambled about conspiracies and the unjust legal system.
Psychotic illness not easy to fake
But sometimes, when the jury was out of the courtroom and Kahsai was unmuted and allowed to speak, he was coherent and reasonable.
"I need the same respect and privilege the Crown has got from you," he told the judge in the jury's absence on the second day of trial. "The Crown is obviously working with full capacity. I need the ability … to cross exam the witnesses."
Mental illnesses are not easy to fake and professionals tasked with assessing people like Kahsai are very alert to the issue of malingering, says Dr. Patrick Baillie, a forensic psychologist and a lawyer.
"Most people don't have an understanding of what a psychotic illness truly looks like, they may have their depictions from television or movies," said Baillie in an interview with CBC News.
"We see certain behaviours from someone who is truly psychotic that don't come and go that therefore persist over a period of time."
Kahsai coherent in police interview
In Kahsai's case, several professionals — doctors, nurses and other hospital staff — would have observed the accused, and the forensic psychiatrist writing the assessment would also have used collateral sources of information.
Kahsai's behaviour when he was arrested and his coherent interview with two homicide detectives would have also likely been useful to the doctors involved.
Jurors were certainly struggling with what to make of Kahsai's behaviour. On the fifth day of the trial, they sent a letter to the judge asking if Kahsai had been forensically assessed. The lawyers and Justice Poelman carefully considered how to answer their question.
The goal was to assuage the jury's concern but not to get into the findings that the accused killer was believed to be faking his symptoms.
Fitness not for jury to address
Baillie says it was important jurors were told Kahsai had been found fit to stand trial, which means he understands the charges against him and could — although he's self-represented — communicate with counsel.
"We don't find someone to be unfit simply because they say to call the FBI," said Baillie.
"This doesn't mean that this individual is always logical, coherent and lucid, but it means those elements have been addressed and that this shouldn't be a concern to the jury.
"The jury's fundamental responsibility is not to get wrapped up in those issues."
'He's always blamed other people'
The outbursts and show Kahsai put on for the jury became too much for Alem's best friend to handle. Susan Hills stopped coming to court.
"It's absurd. I've known him for a lot of years," said Hills. "He's always blamed other people for his mistakes ... he is faking."
In 2016, Kahsai began ranting when he would be brought into court at various stages of his case. That's when he was sent for psychiatric assessments to determine whether he was mentally fit to stand trial. On three occasions, a forensic psychiatrist found he was not only fit but faking his symptoms.
For weeks in the fall of 2016, Kahsai called CBC News from the Calgary Remand Centre dozens of times in an effort to advance his narrative.
During a recorded phone call, the suspected killer denied he was faking a mental illness but acknowledged he was aware of and wanted to utilize a defence of not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder.
Brainwashing and telepathy
Kahsai went on to rant about brainwashing and telepathy at the remand centre and the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre, where he was assessed three times for mental fitness.
He told CBC News the guards were using technology to induce heart attacks and to read inmates' minds.
"I was told that I'm clinically sane, not insane," Kahsai told CBC News in November 2016. "The doctor did lie, fabricate the paperwork ... it stated something about me faking."
Although his behaviour ultimately derailed his preliminary inquiry, on the first day the judge was told Kahsai had contacted the Calgary Police Service 35 times, including once to report an assault that was later determined not to have occurred.
Before the trial, prosecutor Todd Buziak had previously said in court that he believed Kahsai was trying to "derail" his court proceedings.
The evidence
The two women are believed to have been killed in Alem's Coventry Hills home, where their bodies remained for two days before they were discovered by police after a friend became concerned.
Jurors heard evidence that Alem feared for her safety and had sought a restraining order against her son in the months before the killings.
The victims died after suffering knife injuries to their necks, faces and bodies.
Kahsai, who had recently threatened to kill his mother, was arrested later that night at an apartment in Edmonton. Alem's missing SUV was found just a few blocks away with the dead woman's blood on the floor mat.
Blood from both women was found on Kahsai's sneakers, according to prosecutors Buziak and Matt Dalidowicz.