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Yukon News
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Fitness hearing takes place for Michael Nehass Ashley Joannou
into inmates and that he has been poisoned. He says that as a young man ichael Nehass was in court he witnessed aboriginal women this week pleading for help. being forced into human trafHe wants someone to listen to ficking. him, someone to believe him and Nehass repeatedly argued he people to stop calling him crazy. couldn’t be ruled delusional be“I’m making these claims and cause no one has looked into his you’re telling me I’m crazy,” a claims to prove they’re not true. clearly exasperated Nehass told Nehass was arrested in Dethe court. cember 2011 and is facing chargThe 30-year-old was before a es including assault and forcjudge twice this week as part of ible confinement. He has been a hearing to decide if he’s fit to charged with additional crimes stand trial. since arriving at the Whitehorse Territorial court judge Correctional Centre. Michael Cozens will make that Local civil liberties advocates ruling Friday. have suggested that Nehass is Nehass, who often spoke for suffering from post-traumatic himself in court, believes top stress disorder as a result of bemembers of a powerful Freeing held in segregation for long mason society have infiltrated periods at the Whitehorse Corkey positions in all parts of the rectional Centre. Yukon government. It recently came to light that He insists that these court he was brought naked and shackproceedings are an attempt by led into a video court appearance that group to keep him quiet last January. about what he knows. His father has since filed a huHe’s adamant he was forcibly man rights complaint claiming sterilized while in jail. He says his son has been held in solitary that jail officials are implanting confinement for 28 months. nanochip mind-control devices The Department of Justice has News Reporter
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denied these claims but won’t speak specifically about Nehass’s case, claiming privacy concerns. They say the longest anyone has been held in segregation at one time is just shy of four months. “I’m not crazy, my rights are being wronged,” Nehass said before insisting he’s being “locked in a box 24/7” and “just started getting my human rights” after news of his situation was made public. A 1999 study by the Correctional Service of Canada found that spending 60 days in solitary confinement is “individually destructive, psychologically crippling and socially alienating.” A representative with the United Nations has suggested that no one be held in segregation for longer than 15 days. In court Nehass insisted he has been passing psychiatric evaluations since he was young until now. He says he’s been diagnosed with ADHD. The court also heard he has been diagnosed with a conduct disorder and questioned about possible fetal
alcohol spectrum disorder. Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe met with Nehass most recently. The psychiatrist told the court Nehass is delusional but stopped short of saying whether that means he is unfit to stand trial. That’s up to the judge, he said. “Even very ill people can put their preoccupations aside,” he said. For someone to be fit to stand trial, he or she must be able to understand the nature of a trial, the possible consequences and must be able to communicate effectively with his lawyer. Nehass insists he can do all those things. Lohrasbe told the court that when Nehass can keep focused, it is quite possible for him to form “situational alliances” with someone like his lawyer. The doctor agreed Nehass seems to understand what the legal consequences of a court case could be. But Lohrasbe testified he hasn’t seen any evidence that Nehass sees that this particular case has anything to do with his actions and not a government
conspiracy to keep him from telling the public what he knows. In his closing arguments yesterday, prosecutor Leo Lane said it’s not enough for Nehass to be able to explain the legal process in general terms. He needs to be able to participate in a meaningful way and have a rational understanding of the situation he is in. If Nehass is found to be unfit his case will be passed over to the Yukon Review Board, which will decide what happens next, how Nehass is treated and when, if ever, he is able to stand trial. When the judge stepped away from the courtroom for a moment, Nehass turned to the group of people gathered in the gallery to watch the proceedings. “Nobody is looking into anything I am saying. Nobody,” he said. “I’m trying to reach out to you guys. Please help me… I’m dying, I’m drowning in corruption… I’m a human being, I don’t deserve this.” Contact Ashley Joannou at ashleyj@yukon-news.com
Judge orders new school election in Pelly Crossing Ashley Joannou News Reporter
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Yukon Supreme Court judge has ordered a new council
election for the school in Pelly Crossing. The elections at Eliza Van Bibber School were held May 5. In all, nine candidates competed for six
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positions on the school council. Two proxy ballots were mistakenly counted during the voting even though they shouldn’t have been allowed. When the final numbers were counted, two votes was the exact difference that separated the sixth and final winner from seventh place. The Yukon’s chief electoral officer went to court to find out what to do. In his decision Justice Leigh Gower acknowledged that counting the proxy ballots was an
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unintentional mistake. “The returning officer now realizes that she was in error … but at all times was acting in good faith and to the best of her understanding of the election process,” he said. The law around school elections only allows in-person voting, possibly with the assistance of a friend or relative, or mail-in voting. The election was the first one for a Pelly Crossing school council since 1991. All the other school councils after that were chosen by acclamation. A total of 106 votes were cast. That’s about one third of the total population of the community. “It would appear that the election was hotly contested,”
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Gower said. “The atmosphere in and around the polling station during the voting was highly charged. At one point, the RCMP attended to speak with the returning officer.” There was never any dispute over the fact that a mistake was made. The only real question was how to fix it. At a hearing earlier this month, there was some discussion over whether or not invalidating two votes would mean there was now a tie between sixth and seventh place. Under the law, ties are decided by a drawing of lots, But that rule only applies in elections that were handled legally, the judge said. In this case the election was invalid for all the candidates, not just those two. No date has been set yet for when the new election will take place. Contact Ashley Joannou at ashleyj@yukon-news.com
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