Latest news with #automatism
CTV News
10 hours ago
- CTV News
B.C. man ‘acted involuntarily' when he attacked woman after taking magic mushrooms, court finds
Warning: This story contains details readers may find disturbing. A B.C. man who admitted to attacking and sexually assaulting a woman before stabbing himself in the chest was acquitted of all charges, with the court ruling he 'acted involuntarily' after taking magic mushrooms. Leon-Jamal Barrett was charged with sexual assault and other offences in an attack that left a woman he had never met before 'horrified and traumatized' in the early hours of March 9, 2019, according to a decision finding the accused not guilty on the grounds of non-mental disorder automatism. 'Mr. Barrett will not face a conviction in this matter, but he will live with the knowledge that he made a choice that resulted in temporarily losing his mind and committing an appalling series of acts against a stranger. The scar that he bears will be a constant reminder of these actions,' Judge Timothy Hinkson wrote in his decision. The ruling was handed down in Surrey provincial court in March and posted online earlier this month. 'This case is unusual,' Hinkson's decision began. 'There is no doubt as to whether or not Mr. Barrett did what he is accused of.' The defence of non-mental disorder automatism is rarely invoked and highly controversial. It amounts to an argument that someone who does not have an underlying mental illness acted involuntarily and is not responsible for their actions – which the judge notes is counter to the general legal presumption that people 'act voluntarily.' A 'highly unusual' case Unlike in cases where someone is found not criminally responsible 'due to mental disease or defect,' when this defence succeeds the accused is acquitted – and the court can not order detention in a psychiatric facility. In this case, the judge accepted that Barrett was in an 'acutely psychotic state' after smoking cannabis and ingesting magic mushrooms. 'While what he describes may be shocking and hard for almost anyone to comprehend, there is no evidence contradicting his version,' Hinkson wrote. 'He was hallucinating and delusional and those psychotic symptoms drove his behaviour,' the judge continued, summarizing what the court heard from an expert who also described the case as 'highly unusual.' Barrett told the court about a 'complex hallucination' that began roughly an hour after he took the mushrooms and involved a demand to 'sacrifice himself to save humanity.' Part of the delusion involved needing to find a woman in order to fulfill a command from God. 'God would sacrifice both of them during an act of sexual congress in order to save humanity. He waited at his house for this woman to come,' the decision said. 'When she did not, he left his home, believing that if he walked anywhere, God would eventually bring them together.' The attack on the woman Once he was out on the street, he saw a woman behind the wheel of a car and 'assumed she was the chosen woman,' according to the decision. Barrett started to follow her, and she ran away from him toward her home but he climbed the gate and managed to grab her and pull her to the ground, the decision said. 'He started to lick her and kiss her neck. He 'smashed' her left breast. He was pulling at her pants, she felt, in an effort to remove them. When he tried to kiss her, she repeatedly poked at his face with her key. When he put his tongue in her mouth, she bit his tongue as hard as she could,' the court heard. Barrett got up and started to undress, and the woman took the opportunity to run again but Barrett pushed her down concrete stairs. 'There was a great struggle on the floor. (The victim's) wrist was injured. She was screaming, trying to push Mr. Barrett away. Mr. Barrett was on top of (the woman), still naked, with his hands at the side of her jeans, pulling at them again,' the decision said. Ultimately, the victim was able to get inside and lock a door behind her. Her screams woke up her landlord's kids, and a neighbour called 911. Reasons for acquittal Barrett, meanwhile, went home where the delusion continued, according to the decision. 'He believed he could not die from the passage of time and that the police, who had also been corrupted, were going to lock him in a cell for the rest of time. He resolved to go home and take his own life so that another version of himself could be reborn and reincarnated and then maybe they could save the world,' Hinkson wrote. Barrett then stabbed himself in the chest before leaving again to seek out the 'actual woman' he believed God needed him to find, the judge wrote. Police apprehended him on the street after a chase, and the testimony of the arresting officers was that Barrett seemed to have 'superhuman strength' and acted like he was impervious to pain. He was also described by police as in a state of 'extreme agitation' and 'not really conscious or aware of his environment and people around him.' In order to acquit on the grounds of non-mental disorder automatism, Hinkson explained that a judge needs to be satisfied there is 'evidence upon which a properly instructed jury could find that the accused acted involuntarily on a balance of probabilities.' That burden was met in this case, the judge ruled. Next, an underlying mental illness or disorder needs to be ruled out. 'I am satisfied that the automatism was not caused by a mental disorder. Furthermore, it was caused by an external cause, being the ingestion of magic mushrooms 'boosted' by the use of cannabis,' Hinkson wrote. 'Erosion of trust in the legal system' Angela Marie MacDougall, executive director of Battered Women's Supported Services Society, said she wasn't surprised by the ruling, but is concerned about the message it sends. 'We're at this point where the general public is very aware that the criminal legal system is not helpful for sexual assault victims or domestic violence victims,' MacDougall told CTV News. 'There's an incredible erosion of trust in the legal system both in terms of policing but also the courts – and this case is another example of that.' MacDougall says it's another example of why sexual assault victims overwhelmingly choose not to engage with the criminal justice system. 'Anybody that wants to do harm can easily see that there are plenty of loopholes and it is unlikely that you would be held accountable,' she said. MacDougall says she will continue to advocate for victims of sexual assault who do choose to report the crimes to police despite the 'discouraging' outcome in this case and so many others. With files from CTV News Vancouver's Yasmin Gandham
CBC
2 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
B.C. man acquitted of sexual assault after blaming 'automatism' on magic mushrooms
Social Sharing On a Friday night in March 2019, Leon-Jamal Daniel Barrett concluded that humanity was corrupt and his only means to save it was by having "sexual congress" with a woman chosen by God. The fact Barrett took magic mushrooms in the hours before coming to this realization would later prove pivotal to his being found not guilty for what happened next. "He waited at his house for this woman to come," wrote Surrey provincial court judge Timothy Hinkson. "When she did not, he left his home, believing that if he walked anywhere, God would eventually bring them together." Intoxication to the point of 'automatism' Instead of a woman chosen by God, Barrett encountered a terrified stranger, who fought him as he knocked her to the ground, tried to kiss her and "smashed" her left breast before removing his clothes, pushing her down a set of steps and trying to pull her jeans off. In a decision delivered in March but posted last week, Hinkson acquitted Barrett of sexual assault, breaking and entering, and wilfully obstructing a police officer after he argued the magic mushrooms put him in a state of automatism that rendered him not criminally liable for his actions. The case, which the judge called "unusual," highlights the long and controversial legal history surrounding horrific acts of violence and claims of automatism — a term describing unconscious, involuntary behaviour. Although the incident happened in 2019, Barrett's trial was put on hold while the Supreme Court of Canada considered another case in which a naked Calgary man beat a university professor with a broom handle after consuming magic mushrooms and copious amounts of alcohol. In 2022, the nation's top court struck down a section of the Criminal Code meant to prevent people from arguing extreme intoxication as a defence for offences such as sexual assault, assault, and breaking and entering. Section 33.1 has since been amended, but the new rules did not apply to Barrett. 'She bit his tongue as hard as she could' According to the ruling, "there is no doubt as to whether or not Mr. Barrett did what he is accused of." Barrett, a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, was living in his aunt's basement suite and working for a landscaping company when he decided to eat some magic mushrooms an hour or so after smoking cannabis while relaxing after work. The 30-year-old, who suffered from depression and social anxiety, claimed cannabis "seemed to help with his mental health" and "had seen videos that led him to believe that magic mushrooms could help him with his depression." "The first time he used them, Mr. Barrett ingested the mushrooms in a tea," Hinkson wrote. "He found the effect stronger than he did when he ate them, which is how he ingested them on the other occasions. Mr. Barrett was less experienced with magic mushrooms than he was with cannabis." Barrett's 49-year-old victim screamed and yelled repeatedly for him to stop as he pulled her down to the ground. "He was pulling at her pants, she felt, in an effort to remove them. When he tried to kiss her, she repeatedly poked at his face with her key. When he put his tongue in her mouth, she bit his tongue as hard as she could," the judge wrote. "During the course of this incident, she sustained a cut to her lip. After the bite, she felt blood, but she did not know if it was coming from Mr. Barrett's tongue or the cut on her lip." The woman ultimately escaped, and Barrett returned home, where he stabbed himself in the chest after resolving to "take his own life so that another version of himself could be reborn and reincarnated and then maybe they could save the world." According to the decision, he left the house again and went looking for another woman. Instead, he encountered police, who said the naked, overheated and blood-covered man appeared "oblivious" to pain as a dogpile of officers fought to restrain him. Protecting the 'morally innocent' Public outrage over the defence of extreme intoxication erupted in 1994 when the Supreme Court of Canada overturned the conviction of a Quebec man who sexually assaulted a partially paralyzed friend of his wife after consuming a one-litre bottle of brandy and several bottles of beer. In response, Parliament introduced Section 33.1 of the Criminal Code which effectively prevented anyone from arguing that extreme intoxication led them to commit so-called "general intent" crimes like sexual assault or assault. But in 2022, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the section as unconstitutional in the case of Matthew Brown, a Mount Royal University student-athlete who broke into the home of professor Janet Hamnett following a night of drinking and taking magic mushrooms. Witnesses said Brown was naked and "screaming like an animal" when police found him. He expressed remorse and apologized twice, in court and outside, after his acquittal. The top court said Section 33.1 was fundamentally flawed because of "the risk of wrongful convictions it presents" by punishing an accused in a situation where no reasonable person could have predicted that whatever they were taking might render them an automaton. "It contravenes virtually all the criminal law principles that the law relies upon to protect the morally innocent," the court said. "It enables conviction where the accused acted involuntarily, where the accused did not possess the minimum level of fault required, and where the Crown has not proven beyond a reasonable doubt the essential elements of the offence for which an accused is charged." In response to the Brown decision, Parliament amended Section 33.1. "The new provision ensures an individual who harms another person while in a state of extreme intoxication will be held criminally responsible ... if there was a foreseeable risk they could violently lose control over their actions ... and they failed to take enough care to prevent that risk," the government says on a website about the change. 'Too bad you suffered that huge, violent trauma' In his decision, Hinkson said Barrett's case came at a time when "the law was evolving." "This case, therefore, will not open the floodgates," he said. But Isabel Grant, a professor at the University of British Columbia's Allard School of Law, said the case was still troubling. She told CBC News she is concerned the recent changes to the Criminal Code around extreme intoxication might not have changed the outcome in Barrett's case. "I don't agree that the complainant should bear the full brunt of his decision to combine magic mushrooms with cannabis and get himself that intoxicated," Grant said. "What we're saying is that, well, too bad that you suffered that huge, violent trauma that has left you with chronic pain — he was morally innocent. I think that's not a great message for the criminal justice system to be sending." Hinkson noted that the woman Barrett attacked "continues to suffer pain, and remains horrified and traumatized by these events." "Mr. Barrett will not face a conviction in this matter, but he will live with the knowledge that he made a choice that resulted in temporarily losing his mind and committing an appalling series of acts against a stranger," the judge concluded. "The scar that he bears will be a constant reminder of these actions. It is my sincere hope that he finds some way to redeem himself."
