What to make of the state of mind of a man who set a fire that led to the death of a prominent member of Prince George's Sikh community was at issue Tuesday at the Prince George courthouse.
Frank William Edward Marion Marion, 51, was found guilty last year of manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and arson causing bodily harm in relation to the Jan. 7, 2012 fire at 2772 Merritt Road and the subsequent death of his landlord, Jagdev Singh Jawanda, 85.
Marion's sentencing was delayed in part because an application to determine if he was not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder. The application was eventually withdrawn but defence lawyer Paul Pakenham argued there were signs of delusional behaviour before the incident.
Pakenham recounted incidents when Marion told passersby and police he is from the "Hiroshima mafia," the "son of Elizabeth Taylor," and once threatened to hit a Prince George grocery store with cyanide after he had consulted with God.
After he fired off a cap gun while yelling at customers in a local restaurant, Marion was taken to hospital in Prince George for assessment but later released, Pakenham said.
"I'm just wondering how it can be that with this recurrent behaviour, he possibly escaped attention of psychiatric health authorities within this province, let alone the police," Pakenham told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ron Tindale.
However, Crown prosecutor Marie Louise Ahrens maintained Marion's delusions were of his own making. He told a psychiatrist he was "smoking more crack cocaine than usual" to get his ex-girlfriend out of his head and drinking a half-dozen beers a day while taking prescription medicine deal with the pain from a stress fracture in his ankle, Ahrens noted.
Ahrens submitted neither mental health issues nor a past head injury were behind Marion's behaviour but were "driven primarily by substance abuse issues."
Ahrens described Marion's actions as "deliberate and premeditated" and noted he stated more than once he was going to burn the house down. Firefighters found an open-propane bottle in a kitchen oven and a jerry can holding gasoline in the bathroom of Marion's suite, Ahrens noted.
Had the propane bottle ignited, a firefighter told the court, it would have gone off like a bomb, Ahrens recalled. She said Marion was arrested about a kilometre away when he created a disturbance to draw RCMP's attention to himself.
"It was not a random or impulsive act," Ahrens said.
Ahrens argued for 12 to 14 years in prison less the two years and three months Marion has spent in custody.
Pakenham acknowledged Marion's drug use but put considerably less emphasis on it than Ahrens did.
He contended five years is more appropriate and asserted Marion's sentence should be reduced by three years and three months, working out to one-and-a-half times credit for time in custody, because of the time it's taken to deal with the matter and the hardship he's suffered while at Prince George Regional Correctional Centre.
Marion should serve out the rest of the term in federal prison, Pakenham added, where he can get psychiatric help. "He's going to be out sometime, so why not do something for him that will enable him to function in a way that will protect the community and allow him, perhaps, to be a more contributing member of the community."
Ahrens replied that Marion has gone through three lawyers, Pakenham included, has used since he was arrested, and the delays were due to legal strategies defence counsel had pursued.
Victim impact statements from Jawanda's daughter and two sons were also presented to Tindale in which they called their father's loss profound and described the retired math teacher as an "outstanding person by any measure."
"He valued his culture, his religion and his community," Ahrens said.
One of Jawanda's sons sat through the day-long hearing.
Jawanda never got a chance to see a newly-born grandchild because of what happened, Ahrens also noted.
Given a chance to give a statement to the court, Marion said he never intentionally meant to harm anyone. "I don't know what happened, I can't reflect back to the past because I was drinking," he said. "But my heart goes out to my landlord, my condolences."
Tindale reserved his decision to a later date.
