Magnotta defence seeks more aid
Money needed for expert exam, judge told
MONTREAL Luka Magnotta’s lawyer wants extra public funds to have his client, who is charged with the firstdegree murder of Lin Jun, undergo a pre-trial psychological evaluation.
Luc Leclair is being paid by legal aid to represent Magnotta, 30, but the lawyer said in Quebec Superior Court Friday that the payment cap of $1,200 for an expert isn’t sufficient. After some negotiations with legal aid, Leclair said the amount was increased to $1,500, then, “exceptionally,” to $2,000, and finally to $3,000.
“I’ve retained two experts, but they’ve indicated from the beginning that they aren’t satisfied (with the amount),” Leclair told Superior Court Justice Michael Stober. “And legal aid isn’t prepared to budge.”
He said he wants a third expert, but it’s challenging to find an expert who is both competent in English and will accept the fees offered.
“Some can’t write a report in English and some can’t speak English well enough to speak to my client,” he said, adding that the job of evaluating an accused and writing a report involves a minimum of 60 hours of work.
Magnotta, an Ontario native, is charged with first-degree murder, producing and distributing obscene material, causing an indignity to a body, sending obscene material through the mail system and harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other MPs. He was arrested last June in Berlin after the May 25 murder of Lin, a 33-year-old Chinese national studying at Concordia University.
Leclair tried Friday to have a publication ban placed on details of his motion requesting a temporary stay of proceedings in the case until funds could be secured. The motion won’t be heard in Quebec Superior Court until after the preliminary hearing, which is to wrap up the week of April 8.
Leclair claimed that information in the motion could harm Magnotta’s right to a fair trial by revealing that the defence might be that Magnotta is not criminally responsible for reasons of a mental disorder, the same defence used by Guy Turcotte, the former cardiologist who killed his two young children. The judge rejected Leclair’s claim.
“Any capable defence lawyer would have his client examined,” Stober said. “The defence won’t necessarily be (not criminally responsible), that’s just a defence lawyer doing his homework and examining every possible avenue of defence.”
As for Leclair’s concern that it will be difficult to find 12 impartial jurors, Stober said there are techniques to screen potential jurors to see if they are biased. And a trial, if called, won’t be held until January 2014 at the earliest, by which time many people will have forgotten details of the case.
He ruled that the public has the right to know if its tax money is being spent on experts for the defence and denied Leclair’s request for a publication ban.