By MICHAEL TUTTON
HALIFAX — An American mental-health advocate fears a Canadian man diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic will receive inadequate medical treatment if he's sentenced to life in a U.S. jail for murdering Darcy Manor.
Glen Race of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, was convicted last fall of killing Manor, who is from Mooers, in May 2007.
The prosecution alleged during the trial that Race shot Manor, 35, in the back at a secluded hunting lodge.
Race, 27, faces 25 years to life in prison for the murder and will appear in Clinton County Court at 1:30 p.m. today for sentencing.
Joel Pink, the lawyer for Race's family in Nova Scotia, said he expects Race will be sentenced to the maximum of life without parole.
After he is sentenced, Pink said, Race would get a new psychiatric assessment before he's sent to prison.
His family fears that jail will worsen his condition while his conviction is appealed, said Pink.
Bob Corliss, director of forensic services for the Mental Health Association for New York State, said mental-health treatment is available in some state and federal prisons, but it is likely to be inadequate in Race's case.
"When you're in the correctional system, you're first and foremost an inmate who is there for punishment," he said.
"The access to medication is fairly good, but it doesn't go much further than that. And people with an illness like that need a good deal more therapy and interventions, and that, by and large, isn't easily available."
The advocate for the rights of the mentally ill also said it's possible that Race could eventually be sent to the Central New York Psychiatric Centre, where some severely ill inmates receive more intensive treatment.
Corliss said he was surprised that an insanity defense was not pursued.
Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie noted in a July 2007 e-mail that psychiatrists found Race competent to stand trial.
He said at the time that a court-ordered psychiatric exam showed Race understood what was happening to him.
Pink said the family is retaining a new lawyer in New York and that an appeal of Race's conviction will be filed within 30 days.
He said the family is frustrated by the medical treatment Race has received.
Corliss said that once Race is in the prison system, if psychiatrists determine he is "detached from reality," the Central New York Psychiatric Center can act to require he be medicated.
That would require a judge's order, and Race can argue against such a step, Corliss said.
Richard Manor, the uncle of Darcy Manor, said the family is hoping and expecting that Race will be sent to prison for life.
He said they doubt arguments that Race was insane at the time of the murder.
"I don't think there is anything wrong with him mentally," said Manor. "He knew how to get from here (upper New York state) to Texas and to the Mexican border."
Race was arrested in Brownsville, Texas, several days after the murder of Manor at a hunting camp in Mooers, near the Quebec border.
Race crossed the border into the United States following the deaths of two Halifax-area men in May 2007. Race has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Trevor Charles Brewster, 45, and second-degree murder in the slaying of Michael Paul Knott, 44.
Nova Scotia's public prosecution service said it plans to ask the federal Justice Department to request Race be extradited to Canada to stand trial on those charges.
