The Alberta man found guilty of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of an Abbotsford police officer will be criminally sentenced next month.
Oscar Arfmann was found guilty of killing Const. John Davidson in October, 2019, but the conviction was not entered into the record, after Madame Justice Carol Ross ordered a second psychiatric assessment of Arfmann to determine his mental state at the time of the shooting.
That assessment resulted in a report that found the possibility Arfmann was in a mental state in which he didn’t realize what he was doing was wrong.
“It said given the totality of evidence that there is a likelihood or possibility that at the time Mr. Arfmann killed Mr. Davidson, Mr. Arfmann did not understand what he was doing was wrong,” said Arfmann’s lawyer Martin Peters on Monday.
However, on Monday, Arfmann’s lawyer said his client does not wish to pursue a defence that he was not criminally responsible (NCR) for the killing.
“Mr. Arfmann made it very clear to us that he is not crazy, he did not want to be found not criminally responsible by way of a mental disorder, that he wanted to be sentenced for first-degree murder,” said Peters.
Conviction on a first-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Monday, Feb. 3.
The court is expected to hear victim impact statements, before the judge determines a sentence.