Easton (Re), 2025 CanLII 117203

Ontario Review Board

Re: Richard James Easton

ORB File No: 7389

Hearing held on: Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Place of hearing: Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental HealthCare 401 Sunset Drive, St. Thomas, ON

Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code

Before: Alternate Chairperson: Mr. G. Beasley Members: Dr. T. Verny Dr. G. Stones Ms. K. Tomaszewski Ms. M. McKinnon

Parties Appearing: Accused: Mr. R. J. Easton Counsel: Mr. N. Gehl

The person in charge of hospital: Counsel: Ms. J. Zamprogna

Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Mr. D. Rows

REASONS FOR DISPOSITION

(Dated November 14, 2025)

Introduction

1On July 19, 2018, Mr. James Easton was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder on charges of uttering threats to cause death to unnamed members of the RCMP and to the Canadian military, all contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada. Mr. Easton is currently subject to a disposition of the Ontario Review Board (the “Board”) dated October 7, 2024, which ordered him detained at the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care, St. Joseph's Healthcare London (the “hospital”), subject to a series of conditions with privileges up to and including living in the community in accommodation approved by the person in charge.

2On September 24, 2025, the Board convened a hearing to review the disposition pursuant to s. 672.81(1) of the Code. Mr. Easton was present and represented by counsel, Mr. Gehl. Mr. Rows represented the Ministry of the Attorney General and Ms. Zamprogna represented the hospital.

Initial Position of the Parties

3At the outset of the hearing counsel were canvassed with respect to their positions. All counsel submitted that Mr. Easton poses a significant threat to the safety of the public; and that the necessary and appropriate disposition is a continuation of the existing detention disposition with some changes, the most significant of which is the change of the 7 day passes to Gatineau, to 7 days passes to the Province of Quebec, all as set out in the Hospital Report on pages 158-160.

4For reasons discussed below, the Board adopts the joint position of the parties with respect to the issue of significant threat; and the necessary and appropriate disposition.

Index Offences

5The circumstances giving rise to the index offences are excerpted from last year’s Reasons:

"It appears that for some time prior to November 2017, Mr. Easton had been posting YouTube videos with bizarre content. He had over 5,000 followers. On November 4, 2017, he posted two videos, which were the subject matter of the index offences. One of the videos was directed towards the RCMP and the other to the Canadian military, though no specific persons are named. In his NCR Reasons for Judgement, Justice Epstein stated as follows in respect of the videos:

In the videos the accused appears on screen speaking in a rambling and bizarre fashion with apparently disjointed thoughts. He claims that the RCMP is ‘up to its eyeballs in Masonry.” He urges his followers to “murder each and every one of them if they make any reference to Masonry.’ He goes on to claim that there is a faction which controls everything in the military. He claims that World War II was a farce orchestrated by wealthy families. He instructs that the Canadian military is to follow his orders because if they do not and if they follow military rule they will be sent on an escapade that will kill innocent people. He assured military personnel that should this occur he will see that they pay. He instructed that the military must comply with his request or that they will all be murdered. He implies that this occur even if the military is to kill him.

The accused had also sent an email to the prime minister outlining his concerns.”

Background

6Mr. Easton is diagnosed with a schizoaffective disorder; substance use disorder; and personality disorder (cluster B). His fixations continue to be entrenched, and he continues to have delusional beliefs with respect to the government, 9/11, Freemasons and Jewish people.

7Mr. Easton was involved in an assault on a staff member in 2018. There has been no repetition of such incidents since then. He has been assaulted several times in the intervening years without engaging in reprisal.

8In December 2023, signs of hypomania and substance use reemerged. Mr. Easton exhibited instability across affective, behavioural, and cognitive domains. Additionally, he was not forthcoming with staff, and increased his online presence, leading to late-night activity, lack of engagement in structured activities, and elevated mood and irritability. He had multiple delusional misinterpretations about his physicians and past staff members.

9At the beginning of 2024, Mr. Easton lived independently at 700 King Street in London, Ontario, a housing property managed by St. Leonard’s Community Services. He had sporadic toxicology screens which tested positive for substance use. When confronted by staff, he disclosed that he had been using crystal methamphetamine for a month, purchasing 3 grams and using 0.5 grams each time. He also admitted to drinking alcohol on five occasions.

9Due to decompensation exacerbated by methamphetamine and alcohol use, he was voluntarily readmitted to the hospital on January 29, 2024. While in hospital, Mr. Easton was proactive in engaging with structured activities and showed a willingness to follow through with a structured plan. He obtained volunteer positions and participated in recreational and addiction programs. For example, he secured volunteer positions at St. Joseph's Hospitality Centre Café and Ark Aide which provides food/clothing and shelter. He attended Thames Valley Addiction Services, Celebrate Recovery, and other support groups. Despite initial resistance to residential addiction treatment, he eventually agreed, recognizing the benefit of such a program. His commitment to volunteering and structured activities positively impacted his mood and social interactions, as noted by his brighter affect upon returning to hospital from volunteering.

10After approximately three months in hospital, he was stable and returned to his apartment on April 12, 2024.

11He had a brief return to hospital from August 7 to August 12, 2024, for concerns regarding his mental status.

Evidence at the Hearing

12The Board received a Hospital Report dated July 15, 2025 (Exhibit #1); an Update dated September 4, 2025 (Exhibit #2); and the oral evidence of Dr. Ajay Prakash.

13Dr. Prakash adopted the contents of the Hospital Report and Update and testified that he was Mr. Easton’s attending psychiatrist until June 3, 2025, when Dr. Arun Prakash became Mr. Easton’s attending psychiatrist.

14Mr. Easton was admitted to the hospital from March 2025 to May 2025. This admission was subject to a Restriction of Liberties review. The circumstances leading up to this admission are excerpted from the Board’s Reasons for Decision, dated May 13, 2025:

From September 2024 to the date of his readmission to hospital (March 24, 2025), Mr. Easton presented with a notable increase in symptoms including paranoia, decreased socialization, fixated numerology, heightened irritability and increased use of profanity. There was an increase in concentration of delusional ideation and conspiracy theories. There were concerns regarding therapeutic rapport due to expressions of anger and grandiosity.

On October 2, 2024, Mr. Easton admitted to using crystal methamphetamine regularly. However, shortly thereafter, he attended the Holmes House residential treatment center from October 15 to November 12, 2024. Following his treatment, he started the Holmes House’s virtual aftercare program but missed several scheduled appointments and was asked to re-start the next session; however, he did not follow through with this. He also missed appointments with his Thames Valley Addiction Counsellor and did not attend any AA or NA meetings as planned.

On November 26, 2024, Mr. Easton was noted to be focused on numerology, and believed his attending physician, Dr. Prakash, received payments from the system, and was worried about a WW3 initiating with Russia and Ukraine.

On March 4, 2025, Mr. Easton’s treatment team reported that he officially stopped his counselling sessions with Addiction Services and that his presentation continued to demonstrate signs of grandiosity and delusional thoughts around conspiracies and how ChatGPT was still his best friend. … Ongoing concerns with his apartment being untidy and him appearing more unkempt were also noted.

On March 17, 2025, he reported that he published three books on amazon via ChatGPT.

Mr. Easton met with his treatment team and Dr. Ajay Prakash, attending physician, on March 24, 2025. The team expressed their concerns with his presenting mental health, specifically around his lack of treatment response, and poor insight including his lack of structure, falling away from addiction programming, increase in paranoia and grandiosity, and disorganization. It was also noted that these issues have been fueled by his increased internet/computer use, complicating his presentation even further. The team then discussed both pros and cons of the possibility of moving Mr. Easton to a more supportive apartment unit such as with Indwell’s Supportive Housing Program, but that they would like to see him admitted back to hospital first to restabilize his mental health.

Mr. Eason eventually cooperated with the plan for admission and was readmitted to the Forensic Rehabilitation Unit (B1) on March 24, 2025.

15Mr. Easton continues to live at The Station – Indwell Apartments, in St. Thomas. This Indwell location provides support for all tenants, including supportive staffing services from 0800 to 2300 hours, and security services from 2300 to 0800 hours. On-site recreational programming is provided along with daily dinner meals.

16The Indwell accommodation is intended to give Mr. Easton structure and supervision without removing his freedoms. The daily group dinners provide some structure for his day. Indwell staff check in with him each morning, and this provides the treatment team with information about Mr. Easton’s sleep schedule.

17Structure is extremely important for Mr. Easton’s continued stability.

18Without structure, Mr. Easton becomes so absorbed in his computer work that he forgets to eat, which impacts both his physical and mental health. When he becomes absorbed in his computer work, he becomes stressed, which fuels the symptoms of schizoaffective disorder. Historically, Mr. Easton copes with this stress by using substances. This pattern was repeated prior to his admission to the hospital in March 2025.

19The type of structure Mr. Easton most benefits from are structured activities which involve interaction with other people, outside of his apartment.

20Dr. Prakash encouraged Mr. Easton to continue his recent initiatives in leading programs at Indwell, including “Tech with James” (support with using web applications and ChatGP). During his most recent hospital admission, Mr. Easton also participated in a Story Telling Group, where, according to Dr. Prakash, Mr. Easton demonstrated excellent leadership skills.

21The Update describes Mr. Eaton’s recent use of cannabis. Dr. Prakash testified that this did not result in admission to the hospital because Mr. Easton had only modest decompensation with irritability, rapid speech, and agitation.

22Dr. Prakash told the Board that Mr. Easton has been meeting with an addictions support worker through the Canadian Mental Health Association, once or twice monthly. He continued to have ongoing meetings with Indwell staff weekly and had met with the addictions support worker at Indwell prior to their departure from that role.

23Dr. Prakash was asked whether Mr. Easton would benefit from another residential treatment program. Dr. Prakash indicated that no enhanced drug screens had been administered, but to his knowledge, Mr. Easton had not continued to use cannabis. However, if Mr. Easton uses other substances, a residential treatment program will likely be recommended by the treatment team.

24Mr. Easton’s response to treatment is complicated by his difficult relationship with the treatment team. Dr. Prakash testified that this is a result of Mr. Easton’s personality structure, rather than delusions. The issues are around trust and relationship building, which is difficult to develop if Mr. Easton thinks the treatment team is micro-managing his world.

25Mr. Easton has incorporated Dr. Ajay Prakash into his delusional belief system. Dr. Prakash told the Board that when Mr. Easton decompensates, this delusion is at a level of “8 out of 10”. When Mr. Easton is stable, the level of intensity of this delusion is a “1 out of 3”. This delusion remains, as do delusions about Board members and Jewish people.

26The team is very hopeful that Mr. Easton will work with them to ensure his success in the community in his current living situation at Indwell.

27Nonetheless, the team continues to assess whether a more structured and supported environment would be ideal, so that Mr. Easton is not left alone and unsupervised with his computer and the algorithms which target his interest in conspiracy theories.

28Dr. Prakash indicated that Mr. Easton is articulate and intelligent and has strong computer skills. These computer skills are both a strength and a risk factor.

29The team does its best to monitor the social media sites most frequently used by Mr. Easton. To date this use has not risen to the level of the index offences. However, there have been times when Mr. Easton’s delusional systems have been more prevalent in the materials he posts online. The treatment team is then aware that Mr. Easton is becoming less stable.

30Mr. Easton is capable of consenting to treatment for his mental disorder. He is compliant with medications, the most important of which is a long-acting injectable given by the treatment team.

31A risk assessment report was completed by Dr. Ajay Prakash on July 14, 2025. Mr. Easton presents a moderate to high risk of re-offending in the next 12 months if he remains subject to a detention disposition while living in the community, and a high risk under a conditional discharge.

32No further evidence was called by any party to the hearing.

33All parties maintained their initial joint submission.

Analysis and Conclusion

34The Board unanimously adopts the joint position of the parties.

35With respect to the issue of significant threat to the safety of the public, the Board accepts the joint position of the parties that Mr. Easton poses a significant threat to the safety of the public. In analyzing the evidence at the hearing on this point, the Board has considered the judgement of the Supreme Court of Canada in Winko, 1999 CanLII 694 (SCC), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 625. The Board is also aware of a series of decisions from the Ontario Court of Appeal including Wall (Re), 2017 ONCA 713; Pellett (Re) 2017 ONCA 753; Marchese (Re), 2018 ONCA 307; Abdikarim (Re), 2017 ONCA 793; Medcof (Re), 2018 ONCA 299, Marmolejo (Re), 2021 ONCA 130, and Gibson (Re), 2022 ONCA 527. The risk must not be speculative but must be a real risk of serious physical or psychological harm arising from a criminal offence.

36The Board notes that Mr. Easton continues to suffer from a major mental disorder, substance use disorder, as well as a personality disorder. His delusions remain ongoing, and he has not stopped postings on the internet on topics which have a similarity to those related to the index offences, albeit that the team has not discovered any violent content as of the date of the hearing.

37During the reporting period Mr. Easton relapsed into the use of crystal methamphetamine and required a two-month hospital admission to stabilize. He also recently used cannabis.

38Mr. Easton’s insight into his substance use issues has fluctuated over the reporting period. Mr. Easton was somewhat transparent when discussing the tampering with previous urine screening. He stated that he had stored his urine in a bottle to fake the urine drug screen test. Continued treatment and addiction education, follow-up and assessments subsequent his recent community integration are required.

39Mr. Easton’s insight into his need for treatment fluctuated and needs more development. As noted on page 148 of the Hospital Report:

His insight into his need for treatment and hospitalization, and feelings toward Dr. Prakash fluctuated. For instance…

On May 13, he reported that he was on the injectable Abilify for 1.5 years but does not want to be on it anymore because he does not like to be injected, he feels that Dr. Prakash conned him into taking it, and he feels he has been in the system for eight years; he does not appreciate the risk of non-compliance with oral medication.

…on May 20 he expressed “I will give Prakash credit for bringing me into hospital. I did need it, and I am feeling better, sleeping better and better mentally”. On May 24 he expressed “I know that I wasn’t doing well before admission, not sleeping and worse mentally … this is a fresh start, and I will balance and structure my days with breaks from the computer when I move to Indwell”.

40Mr. Easton is unable to recognize his psychotic symptoms when his mental state deteriorates, which include an increased fixation on conspiracies and impaired judgment, resulting in bizarre behaviours and instability.

41Mr. Easton’s insight into his future risk of violence remains limited and fluctuates. He sees himself as a "political prisoner" (March 17, 2025) and believes he has been wrongfully targeted by various entities, including healthcare professionals and Jewish individuals. He had difficulty believing that any thoughts surrounding conspiracies correlated to the index offences. He minimized his actions, expressing that he feels “misunderstood” and does not believe that he was experiencing psychosis or was influenced by substances at the time. At times, Mr. Easton expressed desires for retribution (e.g., suing his previous psychiatrist) and believes past actions against him were intentionally harmful.

42The Board agrees with the Reoffence Scenario at page 156 of the Hospital Report:

If Mr. Easton were to re-offend, it would likely be due to the decompensation of his mental illness, triggered by stressors such as grief, politics, trauma, or a relapse into substance use. Given his maladaptive coping traits, he would likely not seek support from his personal network or recognize the early signs of decompensation, as seen in his most recent relapse. As his condition deteriorates, he would lose insight, and his level of decompensation would worsen, increasing his online activity and he would likely perceive someone as part of his conspiracy theory. Consequently, he might perceive innocent stimuli in his environment as threatening, leading to increased behavioural and emotional instability and ultimately increasing his risk of violence.

43Mr. Easton’s personal supports were unable to provide appropriate intervention during his period of decompensation over the reporting year. Mr. Easton has no professional support outside the Forensic and Indwell teams that would adequately support his current level of violence risk.

39Accordingly, the Board is of the view that Mr. Easton remains a significant threat to the safety of the public as defined in s. 672.5401 of the Code.

40The necessary and appropriate disposition is a detention disposition. There is no air of reality to a conditional discharge. As noted above, the risk assessment report indicates that Mr. Easton presents a moderate to high risk of re-offending in the next 12 months if he remains subject to a detention disposition while living in the community, and a high risk under a conditional discharge.

44The Board adopts the evidence contained in the Hospital Report and the oral evidence of Dr. Prakash that the Mental Health Act would not be sufficient to manage his risk should his mental state deteriorate. Dr. Prakash pointed out that Mr. Easton is capable of consenting to treatment. Last spring, Mr. Easton had to be persuaded to return to the hospital. Mr. Eason eventually cooperated with the plan for admission but would not likely have done so voluntarily under the Mental Health Act, since he does not recognize the symptoms of decompensation.

45The hospital needs to retain the ability to utilize its authority to return him to hospital for an assessment promptly should his mental state deteriorate. This was demonstrated earlier this year in connection with the ROL discussed above.

46The hospital also needs to be able to approve Mr. Easton’s accommodation. Dr. Prakash described Mr. Easton as being in the “early days of integration into the community”. It is unclear whether Mr. Easton will be able to develop sufficient structure in his days to support stability in the community. If Mr. Easton does not succeed in this, Dr. Prakash gave evidence that the treatment team may need to find more structured and supervised accommodation for Mr. Easton. The Indwell accommodation is limited to four years. The Hospital will need to approve longer term accommodation.

47Regarding the terms of the disposition, the Board agrees with the continuation of the current disposition with the changes set out in the Hospital Report.

48The purpose of the change from ‘Gatineau’ to ‘Quebec’ in the 7-day passes is to reflect the fact that Mr. Easton’s friend has moved from Gatineau to another region of Quebec. Mr. Easton has six approved persons. There have been no issues with his use of this pass in the past.

49The remaining recommended revisions to the disposition are in the nature of housekeeping revisions which do not change the substance of the disposition.

50In reaching these conclusions, the Board considered the paramount concern of the safety of the public as well as Mr. Easton’s needs, mental condition and rehabilitation as required by s. 672.54 of the Code.

51The Board encourages Mr. Easton to rebuild trust in the treatment team. As expressed by Dr. Prakash, the team’s goals are to ensure that Mr. Easton makes progress so that he will succeed in living independently in the community. Structured activities during the day will support that goal.

52The Board hopes that Mr. Easton will remain stable in the community during the upcoming reporting period.

53The Board encourages the hospital to conduct enhanced drug screening tests from time to time to increase the reliability of the testing.