Months after he was found guilty of killing a sex offender in an Edmonton jail, Clayton Berard has been convicted of a second homicide.
Berard, 45, was found guilty of manslaughter and aggravated assault Monday for a pair of random stabbings in Edmonton’s homeless shelter district in 2019.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Thomas Rothwell said he had no doubt Berard was the man who fatally stabbed Ida Rosalie Knife on March 28, 2019 — hours before a similar attack on Albert Stevens.
However, Rothwell said he could not convict Berard of the more serious crimes of second-degree murder and attempted murder, saying the Crown had not proven Berard — who was experiencing “active psychosis” shortly after arriving in jail — could form the intent for murder.
The latest convictions come months after Berard pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the 2019 killing of Bruce Donald Windsor, who he strangled in their shared cell at the Edmonton Remand Centre after finding out Windsor was a sex offender. That killing took place three months after Berard’s arrest for the attacks on Knife and Stevens.
‘Brutal and ferocious’: judge
Berard attacked Knife outside the George Spady Centre, a detox facility and supervised consumption site. A police officer testified he found Knife bleeding heavily in the facility’s parking lot early that morning, surrounded by a crowd of people. An autopsy determined she had been stabbed 11 times in the head and neck.
Nearby security cameras captured the attack and its aftermath, showing a man wearing two jackets — one green, one blue — and a pair of jeans with a white stripe walking up to Knife, repeatedly stabbing her, then walking away.
Later that day, a man wearing similar clothes attacked Stevens outside Boyle Street Community Services. The attack severed Stevens’ jugular vein and carotid artery and required back-to-back emergency surgeries. Stevens survived but died two years after the attack.
Berard did not know either victim and no motive for the attacks was in evidence. He declined to testify.
Rothwell had no trouble concluding Berard was responsible for both stabbings. Knife’s DNA was found on Berard’s jeans, and the investigation determined he had checked into the Spady Centre using a fake name just before the attack. Cross-referencing a photo from that check-in with an earlier photo when Berard used his real name satisfied Rothwell that Berard had been at the Spady wearing the same clothes as the attacker just before Knife was killed.
Stevens’ DNA was also found on a knife seized from Berard, though the weapon used to kill Knife was never located.
Accused was psychotic: psychiatrist
Berard’s state of mind at the time of both attacks was the key issue. Doctors in Saskatchewan first diagnosed Berard with schizophrenia in 2013, finding he also suffered from poly-substance use and anti-social personality disorders.
Prosecutor James Rowan argued Berard’s actions — including the “brutal and ferocious” nature of the attack on Knife, and the apparent stalking of Stevens — showed he was able to form intent. Rothwell was less convinced.
In particular, Rothwell relied on the evidence of Curtis Woods, a forensic psychiatrist called by defence lawyer Mark Jordan. Woods assessed Berard shortly after his arrest and found he was likely in “active psychosis” at the time of the killings. He said that psychotic symptoms can flare when someone is tired and hungry — noting Berard hadn’t eaten for two days at the time of his arrest.
Police, who interacted with Berard earlier, said he was twitchy and possibly intoxicated but otherwise able to follow commands. Rothwell, though, heard evidence that it is not unusual for psychotic symptoms to “wax and wane.”
Rothwell said the entirety of the evidence left him with a reasonable doubt about whether Berard intended to kill either victim. He noted that while people experiencing psychosis can be convicted of murder — citing the high-profile Edmonton cases of Dylan Pountney and David Michael Moss — those killers spoke about their intent in the wake of the murders, whereas Berard did not.
Rothwell added that while Berard ditched the weapon used to kill Knife, he neither fled the area nor changed clothes — unusual behaviour for someone who understands they just intentionally killed two people.
Berard is next in court April 10 to set a date for sentencing.
He has yet to be sentenced in the Windsor case, which went to trial on first-degree murder charges last year. Berard eventually pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, admitting he attacked Windsor after reading about an unrelated child sex abuse case in the newspaper.