A man suspected of taking potshots at semi-trucks while traveling along northern B.C. highways has been found fit to stand trial.
Peter Anthony Kampos was apprehended in March 2017 near Chilliwack roughly a day after RCMP began receiving reports of shots being fired at commercial vehicles along Highway 16 West and Highway 97 South.
Kampos was subsequently charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a man on a forest service road near the Fraser Valley community.
Kampos has remained in custody since his arrest and a trial on the charge began in October 2018 in Chilliwack. After Crown prosecution closed its case, the issue of Kampos' fitness to stand trial was raised by his counsel.
Kampos has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and suffers from delusions. He is being treated with anti-psychotic medications and, according to a decision issued Thursday by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Martha Devlin, he is now fit to stand trial.
"I find that Mr. Kampos is capable of a meaningful presence and meaningful participation in the trial. Given his present mental state, I am satisfied that to continue with a new trial would not violate Mr. Kampos’s trial fairness," Devlin said.
Devlin has found Kampos unfit to stand trial on three previous occasions. A pre-trial conference has been set for April 1.
