Prominent psychiatrist at centre of Alek Minassian’s appeal

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Toronto mass killer Alek Minassian is appealing his 10 murder convictions — and is banking on new controversy over a key Crown witness to deliver him a new trial.

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How enraging that would be if that’s enough to thrust this merciless killer back into the courts.

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At a motion to be heard by Ontario’s highest court, Minassian is seeking “fresh evidence” from prosecutors about Dr. Scott Woodside, the prominent CAMH forensic psychiatrist who testified that despite his autism spectrum disorder, the incel killer knew it was morally wrong when he careened down a Yonge St. sidewalk in a rented van in an attempt to kill as many women as possible in his April 2018 van attack.

Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy accepted Woodside’s expert evidence that Minassian can’t be found NCR — or not criminally responsible due to his autism — though she was critical of the psychiatrist’s lack of note-taking during his interview with Minassian.

Woodside has had some trouble with the courts

Since his 2021 testimony, though, Woodside has run into some trouble with the courts.

A judge’s 2023 decision challenged his reliability as an expert: He was found to have copied and pasted a portion of his report from one dealing with a completely unrelated offender when supporting the Crown’s motion to find Caleb Nettleton a dangerous offender.

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As a result, the court found the Crown expert’s report “incorrectly diagnosed Mr. Nettleton with disorders he did not have, falsely attributed gang associations and criminal offences to Mr. Nettleton, mischaracterized his index offence, and misstated his risk of reoffending test scores,” according to Minassian’s lawyers.

When confronted with the glaring errors, the psychiatrist dug in his heels and tried to justify what he’d done. The presiding judge rejected Woodside’s expert opinion after finding he was “unable or unwilling to fulfill his duty as an expert as a result of professional credibility bias.”

That was followed a year later by the Court of Appeal finding Woodside’s testimony in Nettleton raised concerning red flags including an approach to his reports that was “careless” and unreliable.” The court ordered a new hearing on the appropriate penalty for another dangerous offender — Richard Hason — for whom the psychiatrist had recommended an indeterminate sentence.

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“He may not treat his important responsibilities as an expert witness with the care and diligence that his duty to the court requires,” warned Chief Justice Michael Tulloch.

Ontario prosecutors received directive

After that decision, all prosecutors in Ontario received a directive from the Ministry of the Attorney General about Woodside and his use as a forensic psychiatrist by the Crown.

Were they advised not to use him as an expert anymore? No one will say.

Minassian’s lawyers want to know what exactly was in that directive, results of any internal reviews about Woodside and any supporting information about him since one ground of the mass killer’s appeal is that Molloy erred when she found Woodside could fulfill his duty as an expert forensic psychiatrist.

His appeal lawyers complain they were told the information was “privileged” and “irrelevant.”

The prosecutors argue that Minassian’s team has all the decisions relevant to Woodside and there’s nothing being hidden from them.

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‘Application leads to a dead end’: Prosecutors

“This application leads to a dead end,” they wrote in their written argument filed in advance of the motion.

They confirmed a case-by-case review of certain cases involving Woodside had been conducted by the ministry, but there were no other concerns reported.

Undermining Woodside and removing his evidence wouldn’t change the NCR result, the prosecutors argue. One of the experts called by the defence — Dr. John Bradford — agreed with Woodside that Minassian was criminally responsible and the other, who found him NCR, was completely rejected by the judge.

In 2022, Minassian was handed a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years on 10 counts of murder and 16 of attempted murder with two of the injured dying years later.

“He wanted to be known and talked about. He saw no way to accomplish that except through a spectacular act of violence,” Molloy would say in sentencing the unrepentant killer.

“He knew death would be irreversible. He knew their families would grieve.”

This was someone who knew exactly what he was doing to achieve the infamy he craved. Should a “careless” forensic psychiatrist be enough to win his first step toward overturning his convictions?

mmandel@postmedia.com

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