Mother not criminally responsible for killing son

A Saskatoon judge has concluded that Kellie Dawn Johnson was in the midst of a schizophrenic episode that rendered her incapable of knowing that killing her five-yearold son was wrong, and therefore is not criminally responsible.

It means Johnson, 38, will remain at the Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford, where she will undergo periodic assessments by the Saskatchewan Review Board to determine if she will ever be released. A verdict of not criminally responsible ensures that the “morally innocent” offender is treated rather than punished while keeping public safety top of mind, Justice Neil Gabrielson noted, citing the Supreme Court of Canada during Tuesday’s decision in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench.

Although Johnson never denied slitting her son’s throat in their Saskatoon home on Jan. 4, 2014, she stood trial after pleading not guilty to first-degree murder.

Court heard the mother of two was hallucinating that an evil “woman” was going to kill her by causing a blood clot in her leg, and as a result, her youngest son would be molested, become a molester and go to hell. Johnson thought if she killed the boy before she died, he would be sent to heaven.

“At the time she killed (her son), the accused believed she was doing the only thing which could save him from eternal damnation,” Gabrielson ruled. “These were not rational thoughts and hence, she could not make rational choices.”

In the decision, Gabrielson noted a difference between actions being legally wrong and morally wrong, like when someone kills believing it is a response “to a divine order and therefore not morally wrong.”

“I had a difficult time making this decision,” he told Johnson, who appeared stoic as she listened to Gabrielson’s reasons for finding her not criminally responsible.