Case adjourned over psych assessment

Man accused in fatal drunk-driving crash on Highway 3

The case against a Lethbridge man accused of killing a Piikani Nation councillor in a drunkdriving incident last year has been adjourned for nearly a month while lawyers review a psychological

assessment.

The results of the forensic assessment for Douglas Wilbur Bagnall were received Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court, but because the Crown and defence had not yet read the report, the matter was adjourned until June 19.

The assessment was ordered in March after medical personnel at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre expressed concern Bagnall was showing signs of dementia.

Under Canada’s Criminal Code, the court can order an assessment of the mental condition of an accused, if there are reasonable grounds to believe the assessment is necessary to determine whether the accused is unfit to stand trial.

Officials had earlier reported that Bagnall appeared confused and thought he could simply walk out of the jail. And even though he spent time in detox for his alcoholism, his health condition had not improved since being placed in jail’s medical unit. Medical personnel were also concerned Bagnall was showing symptoms of Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, similar to Alzheimer’s disease, because of his long-term alcohol abuse.

Bagnall, 62, was charged with impaired driving causing death, driving while over the legal blood-alcohol limit, and dangerous driving causing death after a vehicle driving on the wrong side of Highway 3 last June collided with a westbound vehicle driven by 42-year-old Barnaby Provost. Provost’s 12-year-old daughter was also in the vehicle and sustained minor injuries.

Bagnall, who wasn’t charged until the following November and then was released a few days later on $300 bail, subsequently failed to show up for court several times and was finally arrested at a city hotel in January. He faces additional charges of breaching release conditions.

The accused, who appeared in court Wednesday by closed-circuit TV from the Calgary Remand Centre, will remain in custody at least until his next court hearing in June. Court was told in January after Bagnall was arrested for missing consecutive court hearings, that the Crown opposes his release on the breach charges, and may seek to revoke his bail on the original charges, as well.

The charges of impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death are both indictable — more serious than summary offences — and liable to imprisonment for life.

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