A Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench Justice will decide if a man was of sound mind when he told an RCMP officer he stabbed his father to death with a pocket knife to “put him out of his misery.”

Johan (Johnny) Klassen is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his father, Johan Klassen Sr., who was found dead in his Kerrobert apartment in Nov. 2016. Klassen also admitted to stealing a semi and driving it into a slough. RCMP say he was involved in a six-hour standoff before being arrested.

Klassen made the confession in a two-and-a-half hour interview with RCMP Cst. Kevin Sabey. The interview was played during a voir dire in the trial, a trial within a trial to determine if evidence should be allowed in the trial proper.

Crown prosecutor Dorinda Stahl argued Thursday that Klassen was “completely appropriate, cooperative and compliant” when he was arrested and dealing with police, which indicates he was of operating mind.

Stahl argued Klassen often led the conversation in the interview and talked about the events and timeline, which was corroborated by RCMP. When asked by Sabey why he was being interviewed, Klassen responded by saying because he killed his father.

“He knows what he’s there for and he knows what the situation is,” Stahl said during her closing statement.

She said there was no indication Klassen was in any physical or mental distress until the end of the interview when Sabey left the room and Klassen became agitated, pacing and appeared to be acting out characters. He was rambling nonsensically.

“I killed the nerve so he doesn’t feel anything,” Klassen during the rant. “That’s a solider. That’s better than soldier tactics. I can teach soldiers who taught me well, you know?”

He also said, “Dad, who I am? A soldier.”

Defence lawyer Erin Little argued Klassen’s mental state deteriorated at some point and that it’s difficult to determine exactly when that happened.

She pointed to Klassen’s “bizarre” behavior toward the end of the interview and said it’s not appropriate to decide when the deterioration happened, therefore she’s arguing he was not of sound mind.

“He didn’t have an operating mind,” she said.

In the interview, Klassen first tells Sabey he killed his father because of his mounting anger toward him for growing up in a dysfunctional family that included his dad’s alcoholism and his father physically abusing the family. He said his father wouldn’t let him borrow his vehicle so he stabbed him.

Later in the interview he said he killed his dad to “put him out of his misery” because his dad would cry each night saying he wanted to die because he was being treated poorly at work.

He said he first stomped on his father’s head to “kill the nerves” so his father wouldn’t suffer.

Under cross-examination Thursday, Sabey testified he was told in a briefing that Klassen may have mental health issues and that he may not be taking medication. He said he wasn’t certain when Klassen last took prescribed medication (if at all) for psychosis and bipolar disorder. He also said he didn’t know the exact reason why the medication was prescribed to Klassen and that officers had a difficult time trying to fill the prescription for him.

Justice Gerald Allbright is scheduled to decide if the evidence can be applied to the trial proper next week at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench.