Dalphond said the Crown asked a second psychiatrist to examine Ny St-Amand after a first expert concluded he should not be held criminally responsible. The development means that instead of the jury trial scheduled to start in April, the evidence will be heard by a judge alone, who will make the final decision on Ny St-Amand's criminal responsibility.
The trial will include a detailed recounting of the facts and testimony from both psychiatric experts. Ny St-Amand, 53, was arrested after a Laval city bus crashed into the front of a daycare in Laval on the morning of Feb.
He was originally charged with two counts of first-degree murder and other counts of attempted murder and aggravated assault. However, court documents indicate the murder charges have been downgraded to second-degree murder.
The two children killed were four-year-old Jacob Gauthier and a five-year-old girl named Maeva, whose family name is covered by a publication ban at the request of her parents. Their deaths caused an outpouring of grief across the province. Ny St-Amand was subdued by locals and parents and arrested after his bus plowed into the daycare in Laval's Ste-Rose neighbourhood during the busy morning drop-off period.
He has been detained since his arrest, most recently at a Montreal psychiatric hospital. He was in court Friday inside a glassed-in prisoner's box, listening to arguments. Parents of some of the injured children spoke to reporters outside the courtroom Friday, telling reporters it was a difficult day.
