A Portage la Prairie man charged with killing his wife and two children has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment to determine whether he should be found criminally responsible.
Trevis Zane McLeod, 52, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder in the slayings of his wife, 32-year-old Shantelle Murphy, and their two children, six-year-old Isabella and three-year-old Mason on April 10, 2022.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Chris Martin ordered the assessment following an application by Crown prosecutors at a brief hearing Wednesday.
RCMP HANDOUT
Trevis Zane McLeod
The Crown filed the application after McLeod’s lawyers obtained their own psychiatric assessment.
“The Crown is of the view that Mr. McLeod has put his mental capacity at issue, which is the basis for which the Crown is seeking a court-ordered assessment,” prosecutor Dayna Queau-Guzzi told court.
McLeod’s lawyers, Lisa Labossiere and Gerri Wiebe, did not oppose the Crown application.
“We do not dispute that (the issue of) Mr. McLeod’s mental state at the time of the offence has been raised and therefore the Crown is entitled to make the request,” Wiebe said.
Sitting in the prisoner’s box, McLeod replied “yes” when the judge asked him if he knew what was happening.
The Crown’s application requests that a Manitoba forensic psychiatrist conduct the assessment, which is to be completed within 60 days. McLeod will be transferred to a hospital for at least a portion of the assessment, Queau-Guzzi said.
McLeod is accused of killing his partner and children and then setting fire to their Portage duplex. Their bodies were found after firefighters extinguished the blaze at about 1 a.m. April 10.
A police manhunt for McLeod ended five days later with his arrest in downtown Winnipeg.
No details of the killings have been publicly disclosed, either by police at the time or prosecutors at Wednesday’s hearing.
McLeod has convictions in Manitoba for assault, theft and impaired driving. Court records show a former partner was granted a protection order against McLeod in 2004.
McLeod is set to stand trial in the fall.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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