(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

A Kamloops jury found a man who stabbed four men in 2020, killing one, is not criminally responsible due to his mental illness.

Michael Wayne Palmer, 48, was already convicted by the same jury earlier this week in a trial that came five years after he stabbed multiple people at his apartment building.

Crown and defence agreed today, July 3, the jury should find he is not criminally responsible as he was in the midst of schizophrenic delusions. They returned to confirm their finding less than half an hour later.

"This is an unusual case where Crown and defence are agreed in their submission to the jury you should find Mr. Palmer not criminally responsible due to mental disorder," defence lawyer Daniel McNamee said.

The jury heard today Palmer has been living with schizophrenia for his entire adult life and though he is medicated, he has had periodic stays in hospitals due to worsened symptoms like hallucinations and delusions.

"Mr. Palmer is not a bad person. He's a mentally unwell person who suffers from schizophrenia, and he didn't do anything to deserve it in anyway just like the victims didn't deserve what happened to them. This isn't a case about feeling sorry for Mr. Palmer... it's about rendering a just and fit verdict," McNamee said.

Kevin White, died in the attack, while Ian McKay, David Gronberg and Caleb Crookes survived. Palmer was convicted of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder after a weeks-long Kamloops trial.

The March 2020 attack came after Palmer started experiencing "persecutory delusions" as he stopped taking his antipsychotic medications, and he believed the victims were part of a criminal group operating in and around the apartment building, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Mandeep Saini told the court.

Palmer hadn't slept for three days nor left his apartment out of fear people would break in and potentially kill him. He then believed the stabbings were heroic as he was protecting himself and women he thought were being telepathically controlled.

Saini was Palmer's psychiatrist at BC's forensic hospital while held there following the stabbings, and he testified as an expert today.

According to Saini, Palmer was diagnosed with schizophrenia in early adulthood in 1994. He had spent multiple periods held in psychiatric care when his symptoms worsened, including nearly a year in care just months before the stabbings.

At the time, he was monitored as an outpatient, which Saini said was likely made more difficult to manage due to the COVID pandemic. Employees from the non-profit Ask Wellness would check on his medication use monthly.

Not only had he stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication, non-profit workers noted more delusional behaviour the day before the killings. Fearful of a fictitious criminal group, he believed he was saving himself and the women in the building.

"In that moment, from all accounts we have, Mr palmer was convinced ... this threat was real, it was significant, it was imminent," Saini said.

His mental health history was rarely mentioned, if it all, during the bulk of his June jury trial, but he was found to be unfit for trial in 2021, only allowed to return years later after treatment and reviews at the provincial forensic hospital.

The jury was sequestered this afternoon to decide whether he will be found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder and quickly came to their decision. Palmer will now require health assessments and, potentially, a stay at the Chilliwack forensic hospital.

The BC Review Board then conducts annual reviews of its patients to determine whether they pose a risk to public safety.

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