Gregory Despres has been found guilty but not criminally responsible in the gruesome deaths of an elderly New Brunswick couple.
The judge's verdict comes in the second trial of Despres, 25, charged with first-degree murder in the slayings of Fred Fulton, 74, and Verna Decarie, 70, almost three years ago.
The couple were found dead in their Minto home about 50 kilometres south of Fredericton. They had been stabbed multiple times. Fulton had been decapitated.
Despres had been a former neighbour.
Justice William Grant of New Brunswick's Court of Queen's Bench said the Crown had proved Despres had caused the couple's deaths.
However, the defence had argued that Despres was not criminally responsible for his actions.
The described him in his second trial as a paranoid schizophrenic who suffers from delusions.
In 2007, a judge shut down Despres's first trial by ruling the accused was unfit to understand the proceedings. During that trial, Despres had yelled about the Hell's Angels, the Ku Klux Klan and the "super space patrol."
Despres underwent treatment between his first and second trial, but his mental health remained an issue.
Psychiatrists testified during the second trial that Despres had appeared to be in the grip of delusions in the period before and after the attack.
Despres, who holds dual citizenship, was arrested in Massachusetts after the bodies were discovered on April 26, 2005.
He was allowed to enter the U.S. even though he arrived at the border packing a chainsaw, sword, knife, brass knuckles and an axe.
After his arrest, Despres called himself an assassin who had just finished a job, court heard.
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