PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - A 26-year-old Nova Scotia man charged with murdering a man at a remote hunting camp in northern New York state has been found competent to stand trial.
The court-ordered psychological examinations of Glen Race were filed with the court and indicated his mental state is such he can be prosecuted for the May 10 shooting death of Darcy Manor, prosecutors said.
Race was charged with second-degree murder.
Joel Pink, the Halifax lawyer who represents Race's family, hadn't seen the reports on the defendant's mental status but said the findings didn't surprise him.
"Quite often in cases like this we have a situation where the person is fit to stand trial, which is a very, very low test,'' he said.
"(But) there is a difference between fitness to stand trial and his mental state at the time the alleged crime was committed.''
Race is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
He was also charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property _ a .44-calibre rifle that was stolen from the scene in Mooers where Manor, a 35-year-old father of two, was found dead. Believed to be the murder weapon, the rifle was found in Race's possession when he was arrested in Texas near the Mexican border.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have said Race was also charged in Canada with the murders of Trevor Brewster, 45, and Paul Michael Knott, 44.
Knott was found dead May 5 in the woods near Mill Cove, N.S. Brewster's body was found three days earlier in a Dartmouth park frequently used by men cruising for gay sex.
Investigators believe Race used Brewster's car to travel across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec and into the United States, police said.
Race will appear in Mooers Town Court on Aug. 2.
Mooers is 257 kilometres north of Albany, near the Canadian border.
