Judge tells jury Magnotta has admitted to crimes in first-degree murder case
Posted September 29, 2014 9:18 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MONTREAL (NEWS1130) – The judge hearing Luka Rocco Magnotta’s first-degree murder trial has told the jurors that the accused has admitted to the killing of Chinese student Jun Lin.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer advised the jurors this morning their task will be to determine Magnotta’s state of mind when he committed the murder.
The judge’s comments came shortly after Magnotta pleaded not guilty again to five charges in connection with Lin’s death in May 2012. The pleas came in a Montreal courtroom this morning as his first-degree murder trial began.
Magnotta’s lawyer argues his client is not criminally responsible and that he is schizophrenic.
Luc Leclair has told the jurors that he will mount a mental disorder defence and that the accused’s state of mind will be central to the case.
A bilingual eight-woman, six-man jury is hearing the case and a dozen of them will be chosen to deliberate on a final verdict.
The charges against Magnotta are first-degree murder; committing an indignity to a body; publishing obscene material; criminally harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament; and mailing obscene and indecent material.
Lin’s father, Diran Lin, is in the courtroom this morning along with a lawyer and translator.
Magnotta is wearing a grey sweater, dark pants and dark-rimmed glasses in court. He appears heavier than when he was arrested in June 2012.
