RED DEER, Alta. – The second-degree murder trial began for Mark Lindsay Tuesday with Lindsay admitting to killing 31-year-old Dana Turner but his defence arguing Lindsay shouldn’t be held criminally responsible.
Lindsay admitted to stabbing Turner in both eyes with a pencil while the two were in a vehicle in August 2011, then strangling her with his shoelaces, and dragging her out of the vehicle before driving over her twice.
He then put Turner’s body in the trunk of the vehicle, bought a sleeping bag and shovel, and buried her remains near Innisfail.
Turner’s body was found in a ditch two months after she was reported missing.
“I want him to die the way he killed Dana. That would be justice,” Turner’s mother, Wendy Yurko, said. “I am so not proud to be Canadian. Our justice system is so bad.”
READ MORE: Murder charge laid in Dana Turner case
Lindsay is the son of a former Edmonton police chief and was reportedly Turner’s ex-boyfriend.
The two allegedly met at Alberta Hospital, where both were patients at one point.
Lindsay’s lawyer is arguing his client shouldn’t be held criminally responsible for the killing because he’s been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“I think he’s faking it,” Yurko said. “By listening, just watching, how he went to five or six or seven Safeways to buy a gallon of bleach here, and a gallon of bleach here, and a gallon of bleach here, insane people are not that calculating.”
READ MORE: Psychiatric assessment ordered for man accused of killing girlfriend in Alberta
It’s expected much of the trial will be spent looking at medical evidence to determine whether he’s criminally responsible.
In 2013, a Red Deer judge ordered an assessment to determine Lindsay’s mental state. The decision came after he was deemed not criminally responsible for two serious assaults in B.C.
Files from The Canadian Press .
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