A Canadian lawyer blames weed after he’s arrested for attacking a family and will avoid time in prison, a judge has ruled. Toronto personal injury attorney Mark Phillips pleaded guilty to one charge of assault causing bodily injury. Canadian media reports that the case appears to be the first of its kind in the country’s court system.
Lawyer Attacked Family With Baseball Bat
Police arrested Phillips after he attacked a family at a mall in St. Thomas, Ontario last December. Sergio Estepa and his wife Mari Zambrano were at the shopping center with their teenage son Nick and a family friend.
As the group spoke Spanish in the parking lot, Phillips accosted them while shouting that they were terrorists.
Phillips then retrieved a baseball bat from his car and attacked the family. He subsequently struck the elder Estepa with the bat, cracking one of his ribs.
Pot Caused Drug-induced Psychosis
Justice John Skowronski heard the case in Elgin County Courthouse in Ontario last week. During the hearing, defense attorney Steven Skurka said that before the incident, Phillips had a clean record and had exhibited no signs of racial bias.
But, he said, Phillips had been mentally unstable immediately prior to the attack.
He had been ejected from Air Canada Center and had an altercation with a construction worker in St. Thomas, according to reports. Patrons at a fast-food restaurant in Woodstock witnessed him “acting strange, talking to himself, and being loud.”
After the incident, psychiatrist Peter Collins of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto evaluated Collins. During their sessions, Phillips admitted that he had been smoking marijuana heavily. He told the doctor that cannabis helped him to clear his mind.
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