Michael Gerard Cooper's doctors want more assessment

Doctors at the East Coast Forensic Hospital in Dartmouth have been granted another 30 days to examine Michael Gerard Cooper,the man accused of violating a court order by going into a liquor store in Halifax.

The 55-year-old Cape Breton man served a seven-year sentence in prison for impaired driving cause the deaths of a young couplealmost 10 years ago.

Last week, his defence lawyer said Cooper suffered brain damage in that crash.

Now, a judge has granted the doctors' request to take another month to examine him.

"Mr. Cooper sustained aserious head injury in 2004, the neuropsychological consequences ofwhich requires to be properly assessed in order to provide anappropriatepsychologyopinion," wroteDr.GrainneNeilson in a letter to the court.

His story made headlinesafter the parents of a teenager killed in a collision with Cooper's vehicle in 2004 asked Nova Scotia authorities to provide his name and photo to liquor stores, bars and other licensed establishments.

Jerry Smits, the father of the young woman, says he had to do something to warn others because the Parole Board of Canada said Cooper told them he would probably drink and drive after completing his sentence.

Cooper is due back in court on March 6.