WARNING: This story contains content some readers may find disturbing.
One of Blake Schreiner’s journals states he used magic mushrooms in the hours before he killed his partner, Tammy Brown, but a later entry contradicts that account.
The first entry details his alleged use on Jan. 29, 2019, before Tammy, who was 39, was stabbed 80 times. The entry is included in one of a series of journals titled “NCR Materials.”
NCR is the common acronym for a legal finding of “not criminally responsible.”
Schreiner, now 39, made the same admission during a psychiatric assessment, but later took it back. Under cross-examination, Schreiner said he lied during the assessment and now maintains that he was drug-free.
A secret organization told Schreiner to claim he used magic mushrooms in order to prevent them from being legalized, the later journal entry states. The idea came after he read a news story reference their legality in Colorado, court heard.
He also thought the claim would help him be found not criminally responsible, according to the entry.
“I just corrected what happened,” Schreiner testified during cross-examination, referring to the later journal.
Crown prosecutor Melodi Kujawa argued against the admissibility of the subsequent entry, referring to the contents as “self-serving statements.”
Schreiner admits to stabbing Tammy, 39, in the early morning hours in their River Heights home. He has testified that voices compelled him to kill her, and though he considered killing his young daughter, Schreiner said he fell asleep, which he took as a sign to spare the girl.
During examination by defence lawyer Brad Mitchell last week, Schreiner said he stopped using mushrooms by late 2018.
The five NCR journals are in addition to the ones he wrote before killing Tammy. Those notebooks included accounts of visions and “religious experiences” Schreiner had while high on mushrooms. In previous testimony, he said the drug use was an attempt to “re-wire” his brain.
Schreiner has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. He could be found not criminally responsible, which the Criminal Code of Canada reserves for people with a mental disorder that renders them “incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or omission or of knowing that it was wrong.”
The Crown’s cross-examination of Schreiner began Thursday and continued for most of Monday. In addition to his journals, Kujawa questioned Schreiner about his interactions during his psychiatric assessments.
Schreiner said on three occasions, he rejected a psychiatrist’s assertion that he killed Tammy over a custody dispute. He recalled replying: “no, I thought Tammy was going to frame me for pedophilia and send me to jail.”
The accused has also stated he thought Tammy wanted him dead.
Court also heard testimony Monday from Amy Scott, who, along with her common-law partner hosted Schreiner in Edmonton days before Tammy’s death.
She said the accused appeared calm and almost like “he was there, but his mind was somewhere else.” He was also indecisive about whether to travel home to Saskatoon via car, plane or another form of transportation.
Though Schreiner said he and Tammy had been fighting, Scott said he showed no signs of anger or ill will toward his partner.
In tears, the witness recalled Schreiner saying Tammy was “a beautiful person, a strong, determined woman and a great mom.”
Justice Ron Mills is presiding over the judge-alone trial at Saskatoon’s Court of Queen’s Bench.
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