A verdict in the case of a Saskatoon woman accused of killing her five-year-old son likely won’t come down until at least October.
A judge overseeing the trial of Kellie Johnson reserved making a decision on the case following closing arguments Friday at Saskatoon’s Court of Queen’s Bench. Johnson is scheduled back in court Oct. 28.
The 38-year-old is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her son Jonathan Vetter.
Vetter was found dead Jan. 4, 2014, in a home on the 400 block of Avenue R South.
Johnson killed him with a knife, both Crown and defence lawyers agree. The case revolves around whether or not she is criminally responsible for her actions. The mother has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Defence lawyer Leslie Sullivan argues Johnson shouldn’t be criminally responsible due to mental illness. Her closing statement Friday argued Johnson didn’t believe the killing was morally and legally wrong at the time.
“Her entire reality is turned upside down and she is not living in the same world we are,” Sullivan told court.
Johnson had been experiencing mental health issues for years and her mental state was deteriorating leading up to the killing, according to Sullivan. She believed an imaginary figure, referred to as “the woman” throughout the trial, would kill her. She feared if “the woman” killed her, Vetter would be molested by her ex-boyfriend, become a molester himself and go to hell. She felt she was protecting him.
“She felt that at that moment in time there was nothing else she could do but what she did,” Sullivan told media after closing arguments.
She thought killing her son was morally right, the lawyer argued.
Crown prosecutor Brian Hendrickson agreed Johnson was suffering from a psychotic episode linked to schizophrenia at the time of the killing, but said the mother was capable of making rational decisions.
He argued she knew the killing was wrong by societal standards because she hid the knife weeks before the incident, because she said “I’m sorry” after her son’s death, and because she fled the house after the killing.
“I think that a person’s actions before, during and after the offence do point to a certain rationality — the fact that certain choices were made, certain decisions were made, the ability to discern certain courses of action,” Hendrickson said outside court.
“My argument was that goes to the issue of her ability to reason, to ration or make rational decisions.”
Johnson’s trial, which took place over days in February and May, saw testimony from two psychiatrists, a psychologist and a police officer. She will be remanded to Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford until her next court appearance.
--- based on a report by CTV Saskatoon's Angelina Irinici
