Trevor Brewster and Michael Knott were killed in May 2007. (CBC)

Glen Race, a convicted killer charged with in the deaths of two men in Nova Scotia, has been sent for a mental-health assessment.

Race was extradited from the U.S. after Halifax men Trevor Charles Brewster and Michael Paul Scott were found dead days apart in May 2007.

Race, 29, was arraigned on two counts of first-degree murder Wednesday during a brief appearance in Bridgewater provincial court.

The judge agreed to a defence request for a mental-health assessment. It will look at Race's mental state at the time Knott and Brewster were killed to determine whether he could be found not criminally responsible and fit to stand trial now.

Lawyer Joel Pink said his client is a paranoid schizophrenic who belongs in a Nova Scotia mental hospital, not a prison in the province or the U.S.

Pink said Race was assessed in 2007. He wouldn't give details, but said he's had many cases where clients were not criminally responsible (NCR), and this one is "as good as any of them I've ever put forward before a judge."

The first report on Race's fitness to stand trial is due on Nov. 19, when his case moves to a courtroom in Dartmouth.

But the report on criminal responsibility will take longer to prepare.

"It's speculative at this point to speak about what the report may or may not say or what counsel may or may not do," said Crown prosecutor Denise Smith.

'Victims on both sides'

Race, from Dartmouth, was extradited last Friday from New York, where he was serving a life sentence for murder. He is to be sent back to the U.S. no more than 45 days after his proceedings end in Nova Scotia.

Defence lawyer Joel Pink says his client has already been assessed for criminal responsibility. (CBC)

On Wednesday, Race wore a green shirt and pants similar to those worn by inmates in the U.S. He looked at his parents sitting in the front row, but didn't speak to them.

Donna and Mark Race said they haven't seen or spoken to their son since his return to Canada.

"All you can do is pray every day," Donna Race said before heading into the courtroom. "[The victims' families] are in our prayers. There are victims on both sides of this."

She also told reporters she didn't want her son sent back to the U.S.

Knott, who was originally from Port aux Basques, N.L., and who had lived in Timberlea, N.S., was reported missing on May 2, 2007. His body was found in a wooded area in Mill Cove, near Hubbards, three days later.

Brewster, from Cole Harbour, disappeared on May 7, 2007, after finishing his shift at a Halifax restaurant. Two days later, his body was discovered under a boardwalk at a lake in Dartmouth.

Race was arrested May 15, 2007, at the U.S.-Mexico border. He was charged with killing Darcy Manor in upstate New York just days earlier.

In January 2009, Race was sentenced to life in prison.

That murder conviction is under appeal.

Appeal in U.S.

Pink said the case here will play out differently than the murder case in the U.S.

"In the U.S., the defence counsel for some reason did not raise the NCR defence even though he did have evidence to show that at the time [Race] was not criminally responsible. I cannot answer for his defence counsel in the U.S. All I can tell you is that here, that will not be the case," he said.

Pink said he's confident Race will get a fair hearing here.

He said his client is "fine" and on medication.

"When he gets out of the forensic unit, he will be reassessed and then remedicated so that we can keep him on an even keel so that we can properly represent him," said Pink.

Race was forced to take his medication in the U.S.