Freedom for Vincent Li expected within years, says doctor

Freedom for Vincent Li expected; Progress in illness means release within years: MD
Bus beheader could be free in 5 years

If you thought the horrific Greyhound bus murder of Tim McLean was shocking, please prepare yourself for another jolt.

The mentally ill man who murdered him in July 2008 and was judged not criminally responsible is recovering more rapidly than most would expect.

And he could be out of his locked ward at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre in a matter of years.

I can already hear the McLean family's reaction.

"We told you so."

But maybe everyone needs to take a deep breath and read the rest of the story.

It's not the kind of event most people would look forward to attending at 7:30 a.m. on a Monday or any other morning. But then chatting over coffee and croissants at a media-awareness session on suicide coverage and mental health reporting isn't for most people.

Or even most journalists, judging by the lack of media in attendance.

Which is too bad because they missed an update on a news story I dare say they'll probably be following today.

It's been 18 months since Vince Li made international headlines for savagely slaying Tim McLean. And it's been a year this month since a judge pronounced him not criminally responsible. A provincial panel subsequently ruled that the Chinese immigrant be confined indefinitely under heavy security at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. That was 10 months ago.

Then Monday, "indefinitely" seemed to get a little more definite.

It was during the media awareness session that the CEO of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society casually said something that startled me.

"I've been with Mr. Li, periodically," Chris Summerville announced in the context of a discussion on people with schizophrenia recovering through medication treatment and support. "And he gave me permission to say this... he is getting better. I mean people wouldn't believe it."

Yeah, a lot of people who don't understand schizophrenia and what anti-psychotic drugs can accomplish probably wouldn't believe it. Then he added this:

"But people won't see any story about this -- unfortunately -- for years."

What I took that to mean is it will be years before Li is well enough for a provincial panel composed of psychiatrists, lawyers and laypeople to pronounce him fit to be released.

But how many years?

Dr. Stanley Yaren, who was Li's original psychiatrist, seemed to agree with Summerville's assessment.

"Relatively speaking," Yaren told me later, "his response to treatment and progress... has been better than average, somewhat faster than usual."

Actually, as early as last fall Yaren was being quoted in the paper as saying Li already had made "significant progress." Even by then Yaren said Li was no longer haunted by the kind of voices that told him to kill McLean.

As Yaren told it Monday, Li's initial recovery started well before that, but not as early as some skeptics would like to believe.

There's been some confusion about how quickly Li seemed to know what he did was wrong, because he was quoted as saying he wanted to die. Yaren explained Li thought what he had done wrong was not obey everything "God" had told him to do.

Later, he wondered if it was an evil God who told him to kill the young bus passenger seated sleeping beside him.

In any event, within a month of the murder, as his medication took effect, Li began to accept he was ill, what he thought was real wasn't reality at all.

By then, that early on, Li had made a remarkable decision.

"He wanted to meet the family and apologize to them," Yaren said.

Yaren knew the grieving and angry McLean family wasn't ready for that, and might not ever be. McLean's mother wanted him incarcerated for life.

The McLeans probably knew by then most people held indefinitely after being found not criminally responsible eventually are released ever so gradually into the community.

As Li undoubtedly will be.

How soon?

"It's really a guess," Yaren said. "But I'm going to say a time frame within five years is not unrealistic."

People with Li's illness are never cured, but they do get better, they can function in the real world they've rarely known.

That's what Chris Summerville was trying to say.

I doubt the McLean family believes that or wants to believe that, which is understandable.

But Yaren also wants everyone to understand this about Vince Li and his future, however long it takes for him to join the real world.

"Recovery is one thing. But coming to terms with this event in his life will be a lifelong process. Just as it will for the victims."

Which makes the truly tragic point, in different ways, for Vince Li, the McLean family and those like them.

Not all life sentences are pronounced by a judge.

But they still get served.

One way or another.


Tim McLean’s mother says she’s saddened, but not surprised, to hear her son’s killer could be released from a secured mental health centre within five years.
Vince Li is being treated at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. He was sent there last March after being found not criminally responsible for the brutal killing of McLean, whom he attacked aboard a Greyhound bus in July 2008.
Stanley Yaren, a Winnipeg psychiatrist who has treated Li and testified at his trial last year, reportedly said during a meeting on suicide and mental health Monday that Li is making progress more quickly than is considered usual and could be released within five years. Yaren reportedly admitted such a timeline was a guess, but that it wasn’t an unrealistic one.
Yaren refused to speak to media Tuesday.
McLean’s mother, Carol de Delley, said Tuesday she was upset by the proclamation, but not surprised.
“I’ve never been told anything in regard to Vince Li in terms of a number, but I’ve done considerable research on other NCR cases and it’s usually less than five years, often less than three,” she said, noting she’s spoken with several families of other victims whose killers were found not criminally responsible.
“The fact that he could be released — ever — terrifies me.”
Such a situation only reinforces the need to change the law when it comes to NCR cases, said de Delley, who has been lobbying for the government to implement “Tim’s Law.”

The proposed law, according to an online petition at www.timslaw.ca, would set at least a minimum period of time on how long killers found not criminally responsible must spend in health-care facilities before being released, if not a lifetime.

“It would be a life for a life. When you take a life, you forfeit your freedom,” de Delley said, urging others to support the drive to change the law. “What I want to stress is that the power is in the people. Contact your MLA and your MP.”
McLean’s father, Tim McLean Sr., said Tuesday he had never before heard of a potential timeline for Li’s release.
“We just hope it never happens,” he said, noting he fears for public safety if Li is released.
“What if he fails to take his medication when he’s released?” he said. “How does anybody ever get cured from something like this?”
Manitoba’s Criminal Code review board will perform annual reviews of Li’s mental health for however long he remains in the secure facility. If he is ever released, it will be the board’s decision.
The next review is set to take place some time before June 1, but de Delley said she has not yet been told of a date.

I truly believe that Li was suffering from paranoid schizophrenic delusions and hallucinations, with the voices telling him to kill McLean. Many people will probably be opposed to this man ever being released, but the fact is, once the medication is serving its purpose and he no longer suffers from delusions and false realities, there is no reason to hold him any longer. As the doctor said, Li is making significant improvements. With the indeterminate sentence that he received, he is supposed to be released whenever it is determined that he does not pose a threat/risk to society any longer. I truly think that Li believed his thoughts at the time to be reality and did not intend to kill McLean in any way. He did not have a criminal record and had never been violent previously. I support his release and I support him in accepting his actions and wanting to apologize to the family. From the sounds of it, he has made a lot of progress and should not be held longer for actions that were unconscious and involuntary and those that he did not intend. Obviously, I dont think Li should be released immediately. He should remain in the centre for some more years, so more treatment and testing can be done. However, if he is released within 5 years, I dont think it should just be cold turkey. His release should be gradual, similar to the prison conditional release programs. It should start with day passes, progress to weekends, unsupervised, etc. etc. 

I think that if he is released, his supervision should be very strict to being with, as he will always pose some risk to society, if he stops taking his medications. He should be given a strict curfew (where he must report to an officer), have a full time job in the days, take his medications in front of a witness (until he can prove that he can do it on his own), and see a psychiatrist often. 

I dont think that Li will ever stop taking his medications though, because of the fact that he knows what happened last time and has to live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life now. After having accepted and coming to terms with what he did and expressing his true remorse and apologies to the family, I dont think he would ever want this to happen again, therefore, motivating him to take his medications. 

Also, recidivism rates among schizophrenics after being released from a facility, are low.  

http://psycserver.psyc.queensu.ca/quinsey/pdf/Prediction/Harrisetal1993CJB-Recidivism.pdf