After two days of testimony, a Crown expert witness concluded Mark Damien Lindsay appreciated the consequence of stabbing an Edmonton mother of three.
Dr. Peter Rodd, a forensic psychiatrist, concluded Lindsay, 29, was criminally responsible for the August 2011 killing of Dana Turner.
Rodd cited Lindsay’s actions following the incident, calling them organized and purposeful, adding Lindsay’s behaviour was consistent with trying to conceal the offence. This, Rodd said, made him aware of the wrongness of the act.
After killing Turner, Lindsay bought a shovel and other items from a Rona hardware store, he drove all over Alberta to dispose of the body and other items and even plotted to get out of Alberta when he went to his parents house to get his resume and welding materials.
Rodd also pointed to the role drugs played. Lindsay has had a lifelong battle with substance abuse and was told on numerous occasions to abstain. Leading up to the night of Turner’s murder, Lindsay used cocaine and drank alcohol.
This led Rodd to believe drugs may have played a role in the act.
Inconsistencies between Lindsay’s reported delusions and his behaviour also came to light on the second day of expert testimony from a Crown witness.
Crown Prosecutor Bina Border directed Rodd’s attention to the paranoid delusion Lindsay, 29, has said precipitated his killing of Turner, 31.
Lindsay believed a group of serial killers called Healers was out to kill him and Turner was who they sent.
Evidence presented at trial indicated Lindsay believed the police were a part of the Healers plot against him.
However, Border pointed to a March 21, 2011 incident where Lindsay barricaded himself in his apartment and called the police. Rodd said this behaviour was inconsistent with Lindsay’s belief the police were out to get him.
In reviewing Dr. Marc Nesca, a defence expert witness and psychologist, Rodd called into question his findings of some of Lindsay’s behaviour. Rodd said there were a number of episodes that “on the surface” looked like psychiatric incidents, but he identified efforts to manipulate circumstances to fit Nesca’s diagnosis.
Some reports describe Lindsay’s behaviour and acting out at facilities he was held at as volitional, by Lindsay’s choice.
Other behaviour described in reports read by Rodd indicated Lindsay’s behaviour was mostly substance seeking and purposeful, and not indicative of disorganized behaviour.
Lindsay’s paranoia and diagnosed schizophrenia have been the focus of much the trial. Defence expert witnesses have made a correlation between Lindsay’s schizophrenia and the psychosis that led to the attack on Turner.
Lindsay is charged with second degree murder in the death of Turner. Turner was stabbed in the eye with a pencil, strangled and ran over by a car in August 2011.
At the time, Lindsay was recently released from the Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre. Lindsay had served a 50-day sentence for stabbing Turner in the face with a knife. The two had been in a relationship.
Defence counsel have acknowledged Lindsay committed the crime. The trial questions whether or not he should be held criminally responsible.
Trial resumes on Monday when defence counsel Kent Teskey will cross examine Rodd.
mcrawford@www.reddeeradvocate.com