Assault suspect still waiting for psychological assessment

A 25-year-old man accused of breaking into a home in May and stabbing a resident while he slept is still waiting to have a psychological assessment, nearly a month after it was ordered.

Judge Gregory Maxwell had ordered the forensic assessment for Josh Lee Goodrider on May 29, but Friday in Lethbridge provincial court Maxwell noted the assessment had not been done, and the Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre in Calgary had requested an extension to July 28.

Maxwell adjourned the matter until Tuesday, however, so the accused can retain a lawyer to help him in court. They will also speak to the extension request at that time. The assessment is to determine if Goodrider was, at the time of the alleged offence, suffering from a mental disorder that could exempt him from criminal responsibility.

Goodrider, who remains in custody after being denied bail last month, is charged with assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, being unlawfully in a dwelling, and housebreaking to commit an offence.

Goodrider is accused of randomly entering a home along Highway 5 east of Cardston about 5:30 a.m. May 2 and stabbing a sleeping man in the head and chest. The victim ran to his truck and drove to the end of his driveway, where he stopped and called 911. He was taken to the Cardston Hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The Crown requested the forensic assessment based on the accused’s behaviour after he was arrested, and pointed out during an earlier court hearing that Goodrider told police the world was ending and the planets are going to be destroyed. He accused the victim of killing his people, and claimed he was only trying to help because people keep slaughtering each other.

He also claimed he was in the First World War and had been killed many times, that time travel is real, and he was trying to stop ghosts from getting in the victim’s home.

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