Lawyers for alleged serial killer to argue he is not criminally responsible

Defence lawyers told court they will argue alleged serial killer Jeremy Skibicki is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women by way of a mental disorder.

Defence lawyers told court they will argue alleged serial killer Jeremy Skibicki is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women by way of a mental disorder.

Skibicki has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, and an unidentified woman who Indigenous leaders have given the name Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe or Buffalo Woman.

He has pleaded not guilty, and on Wednesday Alyssa Munce, one of his attorneys, told the court they would be seeking a finding during the trial that he is not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

“This isn’t a case where we are looking at the evidence to determine whether or not Mr. Skibicki committed those offences,” she told the court Wednesday. “This is a situation where we are proffering a defence of NCR (Not Criminally Responsible).”

The move comes as they continue their bid to toss the jury arguing ‘pervasive’ media coverage may have caused an unconscious bias among the selected jurors. They are pushing to have the trial heard by a judge alone instead of a jury, arguing his rights are being violated.

“As soon as you have a partial jury, you are not having an impartial trial – and that’s the right of the accused,” Munce argued, “There is a reasonable probability that the potential jury pool was prejudiced, and that the jurors that we actually selected… are prejudiced.”

Munce pointed to a poll, commissioned by the defence, showing a strong negative opinion of Skibicki in the community, with 81 per cent believing he is guilty, and 66 per cent saying they would find it unacceptable if he were to be found not criminally responsible by way of a mental disorder.