LSD NO OUT FOR ASSAULT

Judge Rejects Deal

An Ottawa judge has rejected a plea bargain that would have reduced a
serious assault charge against a woman who was used as a guinea pig
for LSD experiments performed on prisoners in 1961.

Dorothy Proctor, 57, and a large group of her supporters watched in
stunned silence yesterday as Justice Jean-Marie Bordeleau refused to
let her plead guilty to common assault for bashing a bar patron's head
with a beer mug in April.

"If 14 stitches isn't assault causing bodily harm, I don't know what
is," Bordeleau said.

Crown prosecutor Mac Lindsay -- who was handling the case for a
colleague -- said the plea bargain could still go ahead if his office
opts to take the common assault charge to another judge.

SMOKING SPAT

"This happens from time to time," Lindsay said of the judge's refusal
to accept the deal. "It's not rare, but it's also not common."

The court heard yesterday Proctor was at the bar in Anthony's Grill on
April 10 when she told fellow patron John Forkheim to smoke elsewhere.
The two argued heatedly before Forkheim moved to a table, only to be
followed by Proctor wielding a glass beer mug, the court heard.
Proctor allegedly hit Forkheim on the head twice before the mug
shattered on the third blow.

The case was eventually referred to the local collaborative justice
project to include input from Forkheim, but the results were not
revealed before Justice Bordeleau refused to finish hearing the matter
yesterday. Proctor, who is suing the federal government for the
alleged brain damage she suffered during the drug research project at
the Prison for Women in Kingston, will return to court Aug. 17.