A judge has ordered a dangerous offender assessment for notorious Halifax crime figure Jimmy Melvin Jr., who is awaiting sentencing on charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Melvin, 36, appeared in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax on Wednesday with lawyers Pat Atherton and Michelle James.
Crown attorneys Rick Woodburn and Sean McCarroll formally asked the court to appoint a forensic psychiatrist from British Columbia to perform the assessment on Melvin. Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe is expected to file his report within 60 days. The Crown will review the doctor’s findings before deciding whether to proceed with an application to have Melvin declared a dangerous offender and locked up indefinitely.
Melvin has more than 60 adult convictions on his criminal record. He was recently sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to a dozen charges stemming from altercations with correctional officers at various Nova Scotia jails.
Atherton expressed concern about Lorasbe’s ability to conduct an unbiased assessment on Melvin, saying the doctor has testified about 200 times for the Crown in the past but only once for the defence.
Woodburn said Lorasbe would be doing the report for the court, not for the Crown.
“Just because the Crown puts him up as a proposed expert doesn’t mean he’s the Crown’s expert per se,” the prosecutor said. “He’s unbiased, he’s qualified and he can do it.”
A jury found Melvin guilty last October for his involvement in a thwarted plot to kill Terry Marriott Jr. in 2008.
Jurors heard that Regan Henneberry gave Melvin and Jason Hallett a drive to Derek MacPhee’s house in Harrietsfield on the night of Dec. 2, 2008, with the intention of murdering Marriott, who was there drinking alcohol and snorting cocaine.
Melvin and Hallett had two loaded firearms with them in the vehicle, the trial was told.
Henneberry testified that he stopped and turned the vehicle around after seeing police cars at MacPhee’s house. MacPhee had called police after Henneberry allegedly tipped him off about the plan to kill Marriott.
Hallett received immunity and money for testifying against Melvin. The charges against Henneberry were later dropped.
Marriott was shot to death in February 2009 at the age of 34. Melvin was acquitted of first degree murder at trial in the spring of 2017.
On Wednesday, the judge ordered Melvin to return to court Sept. 20 and remanded him back into federal custody.
Rosinski denied Melvin’s request to be remanded to the East Coast Forensic Hospital in Dartmouth pending the completion of the dangerous offender assessment.
“He’s concerned about his housing conditions,” Atherton said of his client. “He’s been in (segregation) now for three years.”
“I need a break,” Melvin told the court. “I thought I was going to the forensic (hospital), because I’m about to really crack up here.”
Melvin, who’s being held at the Atlantic Institution in Renous, N.B., said he is surrounded by people who hate him.
“They despise me in these buildings,” he said. “I fear for my safety.
“Can I please go to the forensic? I need to find out where my head is. . . . Can I please have a little bit of breathing room?
“It’s a little bit too much here. I’m not charged with kidnapping babies and killing them and throwing them off cliffs. I’m charged with the murder of one guy who had a lifestyle just like mine that I did not kill.”
Melvin questioned whether he has to call Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office to get something done.
“I’ve been going through this for years,” he said. “So who’s really in control of my life? Because I know I’m not and I know that no one wants to touch me inside these buildings, and that’s an issue. And I hope that the Crown knows that too. . . . They can’t just leave me in the cell and never let me out.”
Frustrated that the judge wasn’t going to grant his request, Melvin became profane and said he would “start smashing” the deputy sheriffs who stood guard around him in the courtroom.
Before he was led away, Melvin challenged Woodburn to a fight.
“Any time, Rick,” he said. “Any time you want to go for a round with me, buddy, we can put the gloves on — Cape Breton style, buddy. Any (expletive) day.”
