Pritchard to get mental-competency hearing
CROWN SEEKS DANGEROUSOFFENDER STATUS FOR CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER
Judge Rodney Jerke of the Court of Queen’s Bench agreed on Monday to hear evidence next spring on convicted sex offender Trevor Pritchard’s cognitive abilities and mental capacity to understand the consequences of his recent guilty pleas.
The accused pleaded guilty in April to sexual assault and child luring against a young teenager, who he met on Facebook. He admitted that on Jan. 17, 2017, the girl agreed to meet him, believing he would take her to a job interview. Pritchard took the girl to his home in Coaldale, however, and forced her to participate in various sex acts. He drove her to her home afterward and threatened to kill her if she told anyone.
The Crown has been seeking a dangerous offender status for Pritchard, who was previously convicted and received a 44-month sentence in November 2013 for the sexual assault of two 13-year-old girls, and who is currently awaiting trial on two more similar counts in November.
Pritchard’s latest lawyer, Bill Wister, is seeking to bring in a psychiatrist to speak to Pritchard’s mental faculties. He also will ask his client to revoke his attorney-client privilege with his four previous lawyers so Wister can understand all that went into the plea agreement to start with. “The stakes are incredibly high, and as a result of that there is an obligation that he fully understood the implications of that (prior to his guilty plea),” Wister told the court and repeated to the assembled media on Monday. “Dangerous offender applications, if they are granted, have the capacity to restrict a person for an indefinite period of time in custody, which is an extraordinary remedy provided under the criminal code.”
Judge Jerke agreed with Wister’s perspective on the matter, but did caution Wister that the onus was on the defence to prove Pritchard didn’t understand the implications of his plea.Therefore Jerke refused to vacate the guilty plea, but allowed the defence a three-day hearing on the question of Pritchard’s mental competency, which will likely take place next spring.