MONTREAL—Luka Rocco Magnotta has pleaded not guilty.
The lawyer currently representing the alleged killer has announced he intends to ask for a psychiatric evaluation of his client.
The Toronto-born Magnotta made a brief court appearance via video link from a police operations centre where he’s currently detained.
He pleaded not guilty through his appointed lawyer, Pierre Panaccio, to all charges.
As Magnotta stood between two guards, hands manacled and wearing a beige wind breaker, Panaccio, told the judge that he’d like some time to consider the demand for a psychiatric evaluation.
The court appearance was postponed to Thursday. At that time, a judge will decide whether to grant to evaluation. If so, the process could take 30 days, explained Crown Prosecutor Hélène Di Salvo.
Di Salvo, along with her colleague Louis Bouthillier, have been assigned as prosecutors in the high-profile case. It wasn’t clear whether Panaccio would continue as his lawyer through the process. He refused to talk to reporters.
Magnotta faces five charges, including first degree murder, indignity to a corpse, publishing obscene material, obscene use of the postal system, and threatening Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Magnotta is accused of killing and dismembering 33-year-old Jun Lin in Montreal. Lin, a Chinese national and immigrant, also known as Justin, was studying computer science at Concordia University.
Police also believe Magnotta, 29, sent body parts to political parties in Ottawa and schools in Vancouver. He’s also believed to have filmed the killing and posted the video to the Internet. The video in question also appears to depict cannibalism and sexual defiling of the body.
Magnotta’s repatriation took place in an unusual fashion. He arrived in Montreal on Monday evening aboard a Canadian Forces Polaris jet, escorted by six Montreal police investigators.
Typically, subjects extradited to Canada are escorted aboard a commercial jetliner. Magnotta, once on Canadian soil at Montreal’s Mirabel airport, was met by more heavily armed police personnel, led from the aircraft and into a waiting van.
From there, the suspect was driven to Montreal as part of a veritable police cortege, not unlike that of a head-of-state.
“It’s a particular procedure for a particular person,” said a Montreal police Commander Ian Lafrenière. “We wanted to have the accused in Montreal. Happily, we were able to bring him here on a flight that was secure and in a way that was reassuring for everyone, without other people on board.”
Montreal investigators were to interrogate Magnotta Monday evening. Lafrenière said police notably wanted to try to find the head of the alleged murder victim in order to offer some peace for the family.
Magnotta left Canada on an Air Transat flight on May 26. Several days later, after the discovery of several body parts, an international warrant was issued for Magnotta. Police apparently picked up his trail in the northern districts of Paris, but by then he’d already made his way to Berlin.
He was arrested June 4 after a 10-day global manhunt, after a sharp-eyed employee at an Internet café noticed him reading about himself on the web, and flagged down a passing police van. He surrendered without incident.
Magnotta didn’t contest his extradition to Canada, paving the way for a quick return.
The lawyer currently representing the alleged killer has announced he intends to ask for a psychiatric evaluation of his client.
The Toronto-born Magnotta made a brief court appearance via video link from a police operations centre where he’s currently detained.
He pleaded not guilty through his appointed lawyer, Pierre Panaccio, to all charges.
As Magnotta stood between two guards, hands manacled and wearing a beige wind breaker, Panaccio, told the judge that he’d like some time to consider the demand for a psychiatric evaluation.
The court appearance was postponed to Thursday. At that time, a judge will decide whether to grant to evaluation. If so, the process could take 30 days, explained Crown Prosecutor Hélène Di Salvo.
Di Salvo, along with her colleague Louis Bouthillier, have been assigned as prosecutors in the high-profile case. It wasn’t clear whether Panaccio would continue as his lawyer through the process. He refused to talk to reporters.
Magnotta faces five charges, including first degree murder, indignity to a corpse, publishing obscene material, obscene use of the postal system, and threatening Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Magnotta is accused of killing and dismembering 33-year-old Jun Lin in Montreal. Lin, a Chinese national and immigrant, also known as Justin, was studying computer science at Concordia University.
Police also believe Magnotta, 29, sent body parts to political parties in Ottawa and schools in Vancouver. He’s also believed to have filmed the killing and posted the video to the Internet. The video in question also appears to depict cannibalism and sexual defiling of the body.
Magnotta’s repatriation took place in an unusual fashion. He arrived in Montreal on Monday evening aboard a Canadian Forces Polaris jet, escorted by six Montreal police investigators.
Typically, subjects extradited to Canada are escorted aboard a commercial jetliner. Magnotta, once on Canadian soil at Montreal’s Mirabel airport, was met by more heavily armed police personnel, led from the aircraft and into a waiting van.
From there, the suspect was driven to Montreal as part of a veritable police cortege, not unlike that of a head-of-state.
“It’s a particular procedure for a particular person,” said a Montreal police Commander Ian Lafrenière. “We wanted to have the accused in Montreal. Happily, we were able to bring him here on a flight that was secure and in a way that was reassuring for everyone, without other people on board.”
Montreal investigators were to interrogate Magnotta Monday evening. Lafrenière said police notably wanted to try to find the head of the alleged murder victim in order to offer some peace for the family.
Magnotta left Canada on an Air Transat flight on May 26. Several days later, after the discovery of several body parts, an international warrant was issued for Magnotta. Police apparently picked up his trail in the northern districts of Paris, but by then he’d already made his way to Berlin.
He was arrested June 4 after a 10-day global manhunt, after a sharp-eyed employee at an Internet café noticed him reading about himself on the web, and flagged down a passing police van. He surrendered without incident.
Magnotta didn’t contest his extradition to Canada, paving the way for a quick return.
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