Race ordered to get mental-health test

Glen Race, a convicted killer charged with in the deaths of two men in Nova Scotia, has been sent for a mental-health assessment.

Race was extradited from the U.S. after Halifax men Trevor Charles Brewster and Michael Paul Scott werefound dead days apart in May 2007.

Race, 29,was arraigned on two counts offirst-degree murder Wednesday during a brief appearance in Bridgewater provincial court.

The judge agreed to a defence request for a mental-health assessment.It will look at Race's mental state at the time Knott and Brewster were killed to determine whether he could befound not criminally responsible andfit to stand trial now.

Lawyer Joel Pink said his client is a paranoid schizophrenic who belongs in a Nova Scotia mental hospital, not a prison in the province or the U.S.

Pinksaid Race was assessed in 2007. He wouldn't give details, but said he's had many cases where clients were not criminally responsible(NCR), and this oneis "as good as any of them I've ever put forward before a judge."

The first report on Race's fitness to stand trial is due on Nov. 19, when his case moves to a courtroom inDartmouth.

But the report on criminal responsibilitywill take longer to prepare.

"It's speculative at this point to speak about what the report may or may not say or what counsel may or may not do," said Crown prosecutor Denise Smith.

'Victims on both sides'

Race, from Dartmouth, was extradited last Friday from New York, where he was serving a life sentence for murder. He is to be sent back to the U.S. no more than 45 days after his proceedings end in Nova Scotia.

On Wednesday, Race wore a green shirt and pantssimilar to those worn by inmates in the U.S. He looked at his parents sitting in the front row, but didn't speak to them.

Donna and Mark Race said they haven't seen or spoken to their son since his return to Canada.

"All you can do is pray every day," Donna Race said before heading into the courtroom. "[The victims' families]are in our prayers. There are victims on both sides of this."

She also told reporters she didn't want her son sent back to the U.S.

Knott, who was originally from Port aux Basques, N.L., and who had lived inTimberlea, N.S., was reported missing on May 2, 2007. His body was found in a wooded area in Mill Cove, near Hubbards,three days later.

Brewster, from Cole Harbour, disappeared on May 7, 2007, after finishing his shift at a Halifax restaurant. Two days later, his body wasdiscoveredunder a boardwalk at a lake in Dartmouth.

Race was arrested May 15, 2007, at the U.S.-Mexico border. Hewas charged with killing Darcy Manor in upstate New York just days earlier.

In January 2009, Race was sentenced to life in prison.

That murder conviction is under appeal.

Appeal in U.S.

Pink said the case here will play out differently than the murder case in the U.S.

"In the U.S., the defence counsel for some reason did not raise the NCR defence even though he did have evidence to show that at the time [Race] was not criminally responsible. I cannot answer for his defence counsel in the U.S. All I can tell you is that here, that will not be the case," he said.

Pink said he's confident Race will get a fair hearing here.

He said his client is "fine" and on medication.

"Whenhe gets out of the forensic unit, he will be reassessed and then remedicated so that we can keep him on an even keel so that we can properly represent him," said Pink.

Race was forced to take his medication in the U.S.