Donald Marshall, once wrongly convicted, faces psychiatric check
New case involves charges of assault and uttering threats
Last Updated: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 | 6:47 PM AT
CBC News
Donald Marshall Jr., who spent 11 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, has been sent to a Halifax hospital for psychiatric assessment after being charged with assault and other offences.
The 53-year-old Membertou, N.S. man is one of Canada's most famous examples of the wrongly convicted. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1971 for the murder of a friend, Sandy Seale, but was cleared in 1983 by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.
Donald Marshall Jr. spent 11 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
(File photo)
He looked thin and ashen Wednesday as he sat in a Sydney court for a bail hearing. He faces charges of common assault against his wife, uttering threats against his wife and her ex-husband, and breach of an undertaking.
Judge Jamie Campbell decided to send him directly to the East Coast Forensic Hospital for assessment.
It won't be Marshall's first visit to the forensic facility. He spent 100 days there in 2006 after being charged with attempted murder.
He was accused in that case of trying to run over another Membertou man with his truck. The charges were later dropped. Doctors suspected medication he was taking after a double lung transplant was affecting his mental health.
The latest charges come with an odd twist: The man Marshall is charged with threatening — his wife's ex-husband — is a lawyer who once represented the man who was eventually convicted of the Seale murder.
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