Sexual offender Stephen Hopkins gets lawyer
Court awaits psychiatric evaluation results
“You are illequipped to represent yourself, however you may think otherwise. Swallow whatever’s driving you, be it pride of whatever else, and get a lawyer. I can’t say it any clearer.”
Donald Burrage Supreme Court Justice
Having insisted on representing himself at trial despite repeated advice from just about everyone he encountered in the justice system to get a lawyer, Stephen Hopkins had defence counsel with him when he appeared in court in St. John’s Wednesday, Sept. 14.
Lawyer Jason Edwards will represent Hopkins, who was found guilty in June of breaking into a St. John’s home two years ago and forcibly confining and sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl who lived there, as the Crown determines whether it will proceed with an application to have Hopkins deemed a dangerous or longterm offender.
That process begins with a forensic psychiatric assessment, with the goal of determining whether he fits the criteria for either of the designations.
Dangerous offender status in Canada is reserved for sexual predators and otherwise violent criminals, when the Crown can prove a high risk of the offender committing other serious crimes in the future.
The designation comes with an automatic indefinite jail sentence with no chance of parole for seven years and, if parole is denied, a review every two years thereafter.
Long-term offender status does not carry an indeterminate sentence but an order for supervision by Corrections Canada for up to 10 years.
The court heard Wednesday that the assessing doctor’s report will be available by Hopkins’ next court date, Oct. 5, at which time prosecutor Jennifer Standen is expected to indicate how the Crown will proceed.
In her application for the psychiatric assessment, Standen said some of Hopkins’ concerning history, of which she provided an outline in a document from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, did not result in charges.
She submitted Hopkins has demonstrated a pattern of failing to restrain his behaviour and a likelihood of causing “injury, pain or other evil” to others by “a failure in the future to control his sexual impulses.”
“He constitutes a threat to the life, safety or physical or mental well-being of other persons,” the Crown’s application states.
Hopkins had been released from prison after serving a sentence for a previous sexual assault about two weeks before he attacked the teenage girl in September 2020, forcing his way into her home after asking her for a drink of water as she sat on her front step.
The teenager’s testimony, Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice Donald Burrage said in June, would have been enough on its own to convict Hopkins.
Hopkins had previously repeatedly said he “sees no need” for a lawyer, conducting lengthy and convoluted crossexaminations of witnesses during his six-week trial with little apparent relevance.
Burrage interjected often in an effort to keep Hopkins on track, telling him on multiple occasions the court was being lenient in allowing certain lines of questioning, given he was self-represented.
Hopkins — who had been provided guidance and impartial advice on legal issues from amicus curiae John Brooks during trial — said at his last court appearance he had contacted Legal Aid about getting a lawyer in relation to the dangerous offender application, but “for counsel, not representation.”
The judge once again urged him not to self-represent.
“You are ill-equipped to represent yourself, however you may think otherwise. Swallow whatever’s driving you, be it pride of whatever else, and get a lawyer. I can’t say it any clearer,” Burrage advised him.