Not criminally responsible for acts of mischief
Aaron Paul Hillstad caused damage to Osoyoos motel on night he was trying to gain powers of video game character
A man described by his case workers as “generally psychotic, but pleasant” has been found not criminally responsible for two acts of mischief earlier this year at an Osoyoos motel where he engaged in self-harm to try to gain the powers of his favourite video game character.
Aaron Paul Hillstad, 25, is now under the care of the B.C. Review Board, which handles the treatment and eventual release of those deemed not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder.
He was labelled NCRMD on Thursday by Judge Meg Shaw in provincial court in Penticton, following a hearing earlier this week that focused on a report prepared by a forensic psychiatrist.
Court heard Hillstad was arrested around 2 a.m. on Jan. 2, 2017, at the Westridge Inn by police who were called to a report of a man “going berserk,” Shaw recounted in her reasons for judgement.
Two windows in Hillstad’s room had been smashed, while a bench had been flipped over and broken.
“Mr. Hillstad had bands wrapped tightly around his arms, which is consistent with behaviour in the past during periods of psychosis when he was under the delusion of trying to become stronger with super powers,” she continued.
Shaw said the bands were wrapped so tightly that his arms were swollen and turning blue, and that he told police he did so to gain the powers of Scorpion, a ninja character from the Mortal Kombat series of video games.
Three weeks later, Hillstad was interviewed by Dr. Sunette Lessing at Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre, but walked out after just 10 minutes.
Lessing testified earlier in the week that she was still able to determine from documents on file that Hillstad has a “well-established” diagnosis of schizophrenia and substance-use disorder.
He had been drifting in and out of homelessness prior to moving into the motel and hadn’t been eating or sleeping, which the doctor suggested contributed to his bizarre behaviour.
She also said methamphetamine, which Hillstad was using on the night of the offences, exacerbates his symptoms.
“In the case notes from his case managers, who have known him for a long time, they describe him as generally psychotic, but pleasant, although he makes really, really poor decisions — harming himself, injecting himself with gasoline and corrosive substances,” Lessing said.
“So it’s really hard then to decide whether the ultimate trigger for his destructive behaviour was an ongoing psychosis or drugs.”
Nonetheless, Lessing determined he was “not capable of appreciating the moral wrongfulness of his actions” on the night in question, and therefore suggested he be deemed NCRMD.
Under cross-examination from defence counsel James Pennington, who challenged the NCRMD finding, the doctor admitted Hillstad told her he “didn’t want to use his illness as a defence to these charges.”
Pennington suggested that was evidence his client “knew perfectly well what he did on the night in question,” and so was his offer to pay for damages.
The lawyer went on to point out it’s “highly unusual” for the Crown to seek to have someone declared NCRMD.
“It certainly flies in the face of the ability of the defendant to manage and control his own defence,” said Pennington, who urged his client be sentenced to time served and released on probation with strict conditions.
The judge disagreed on the two counts of mischief, but did find Hillstad guilty of a related charge of possession of methamphetamine because she heard no evidence about Hillstad’s mental state when he purchased the drug. He received a sentence of 14 days’ time served for that offence.
The B.C. Review Board now has 45 days to decide what to do with Hillstad, who will be sent to Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam while awaiting disposition on the mischief charges.
Options range from granting him an absolute discharge to keeping him in care indefinitely with annual reviews.
Hillstad, who’s stocky and has his hair shaved in a Mohawk, appeared by videoconference from KRCC. After hearing the NCRMD finding, he began punching himself in the head, then feigned putting a gun to his temple.
In July 2015, he was sentenced to four months in jail for robbing the 7-Eleven store in Oliver. During the heist, he removed a scarf covering his face at the request of a store clerk, which made it easy for police to identify him.