A judge in Calgary, Canada has granted a mental assessment for a father convicted of failing to provide the necessities of life to his daughter. This week, Judge Earl Wilson gave permission for Jonathan Hope to have a month-long mental examination. Hope’s lawyer argued that her client might not be criminally responsible for the child’s April 2006 death because he suffered a brain injury as a result of a motorcycle accident.
The judge’s decision is unusual because Hope and his former partner, Lisa Guerin, were found guilty earlier this month of failing to provide their 16-month-old daughter, Summer, with the necessities of life. Summer died after ingesting a fatal dose of methadone that Hope had been taking as part of his treatment for drug addiction.
The parents were acquitted of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death.
Wilson will sentence Guerin on April 8 without waiting for the results of Hope’s mental assessment.
Hope performed CPR on his daughter for several hours, then tried to make a cardiac defribillator out of the wires of a lamp to jump start the child’s heart. Hope said he did not call 911 because his phone was not working. Guerin faces a maximum jail sentence of five years.
