Re: Jonathan Vader Lewis
ORB File No: 8201
Hearing held on: Thursday, February 20, 2025
Place of hearing: St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton West 5th Campus, Hamilton
Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code
Before:
Alternate Chairperson: Ms. L. Maunder
Members: Dr. S. Simpson Dr. M. Kalia Mr. R. Bigelow Mr. S. Doherty
Parties Appearing:
Accused: Mr. Jonathan Vader Lewis
Counsel for the Accused: Mr. A. Rai
Counsel for the Person in charge of Hospital: Mr. S. O’Brien
Counsel for the Attorney General of Ontario: Ms. J. McKenzie
REASONS FOR DISPOSITION
(Dated: March 31, 2025)
Introduction
On December 22, 2022, Jonathan Vader Lewis was found not criminally responsible on a Criminal Code charge of second-degree murder. At the time of the hearing, Mr. Vader Lewis was subject to an order of the Board detaining him at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH) with privileges including access to the hospital and grounds indirectly supervised and access to the community of Southern Ontario accompanied by staff or an approved person. On February 20, 2025, the Board convened a hearing to conduct an annual review of Mr. Vader Lewis’s disposition.
The parties jointly submitted that we should maintain the detention order and privileges allowed for in last year’s disposition. The threshold question of whether Mr. Vader Lewis posed a significant threat to the safety of the public was conceded. For the reasons set out below, the panel agreed that significant threat was made out and accepted the joint submission.
The Index Offences
On April 5th or 6th, 2022, Mr. Vader Lewis stabbed his father 43 times and, in the process, lacerated his jugular vein. Mr. Vader Lewis emailed a local newspaper reporter the next day to say his father was dead and his body was decomposing. This led to the police attending the apartment.
At the time, Mr. Vader Lewis believed his father was poisoning him.
Background / Context
Mr. Vader Lewis is a 44-year-old single man with no dependents. He is diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder as well as cannabis use disorder and alcohol use disorder, both in remission in a controlled environment.
Mr. Vader Lewis’s mother was 19 years old when she had him. He was raised by his parents until they separated when he was six years old. Mr. Vader Lewis remained with his father (with help from his father’s parents) and had little contact with his mother for the next six years. He was bullied at school beginning in grade two and likely suffered some emotional and verbal abuse from his father as well, who had an alcohol problem.
Mr. Vader Lewis graduated from high school and attempted a couple of college programs but did not complete them. He has held jobs but does not have a significant work history.
Mr. Vader Lewis used cannabis daily (often as much as two to three grams) from the time he was a teenager until his arrest for the index offence. He also used alcohol, but less consistently. He experimented with other drugs in his twenties but did not continue to use them.
Mr. Vader Lewis has a criminal record. He was convicted of mischief and fail to comply with a recognizance in 2010. Later the same year he was convicted of possession of a schedule III substance and fail to comply with probation. In 2018 he was convicted of criminal harassment1.
Mr. Vader Lewis’s early contacts with psychiatric services arose from suicidal ideation. His first psychiatric admission to hospital was in April 2019. At that time, in addition to thoughts of self-harm, he had paranoid delusions. Over the course of a four-week admission, he was treated with antipsychotic medications and improved. Mr. Vader Lewis had two more admissions that year - spending a total of four months in hospital. He was described as intensely paranoid, disorganized, depressed. He was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. When he was treated in hospital – his paranoia reduced but did not disappear. He was referred to outpatient services but initially did not follow up and then, when he did follow up, fell away and stopped his medications before long.
For a time, Mr. Vader Lewis moved out of his father’s apartment, but he gravitated back. Together they drank too much and argued frequently, sometimes getting into physical altercations. Mr. Vader Lewis reported that, in response, he stopped drinking, but the record suggests he was not successful (or not consistently so).
By July 2022, Mr. Vader Lewis had had been off his antipsychotic medications for approximately one year. He was using cannabis regularly. Between July 28, 2022, and August 4, 2022 (immediately prior to the index offence), Mr. Vader Lewis presented himself to various hospitals (seven in total) ten times. He sought treatment because he believed his father had poisoned him. At first, he believed he had been poisoned with GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate) or “roofied” but then reported his father had told him it was anthrax. On each occasion, Mr. Vader Lewis either left hospital prematurely because he didn’t believe he was being taken seriously, or he was deemed not to meet the criteria for a Form 1 or 3 and he was discharged. During this same period, Mr. Vader Lewis was texting his father, aunt and uncles. He sought help but the content was also “delusional” and “aggressive”.
When Mr. Vader Lewis was hospitalized after the index offences (and thereafter), he was cooperative with treatment. His symptoms of psychosis diminished. He has not used substances. He has not been violent or aggressive.
Mr. Vader Lewis is very remorseful for the index offence. He also suffers anxiety associated with the high-profile nature of the case, his father’s stature in the community, and media attention. Both likely contribute to depression and his passive suicidal ideation.
The Current Year
Dr. O. Lee, a forensic psychiatry resident working under the supervision of Dr. J. Ferencz, testified and adopted the Hospital Report. Dr. Ferencz has been Mr. Vader Lewis’s attending psychiatrist since his admission in 2022. Dr. Lee has been working with Mr. Vader Lewis since September 2024.
Mr. Vader Lewis had another good year. He remained cooperative with the team, compliant with medications, and non-aggressive. His insight into his illness and need for medications is good and he is capable for treatment decisions.
Mr. Vader Lewis’s illness is treatment resistant. Various changes were made to his medications over the year in an effort to better treat his psychosis and depression. A trial of clozapine had to be discontinued as Mr. Vader Lewis was unable to tolerate the side effects. A trial of one antidepressant also had to be discontinued but his mood improved when they tried a different antidepressant (duloxetine) beginning in August 2024. On his current medication regimen, Mr. Vader Lewis continues to experience some auditory hallucinations, but they are not commanding or aggressive, and he can tolerate them. His mood is improved and he is more engaged. As discussed below, however, Mr. Vader Lewis’s mental state is susceptible to stress – his mood worsens, and his auditory hallucinations become more prominent.
Mr. Vader Lewis has completed a CBT program for psychosis, as well as a substance abuse treatment program. He has engaged in therapy. He has also begun a “Healing and Forgiveness Group” therapy program designed for those who experienced trauma associated with an index offence.
Mr. Vader Lewis had one set back during the year. In early November 2024, a local newspaper ran an article that referred to Mr. Vader Lewis and apparently quoted a family member. Mr. Vader Lewis read it and told staff it made him anxious, but then ruminated about the article. Around the same time, he got Covid. His upcoming hearing may have added to his stress. In any event, Mr. Vader Lewis’s mood worsened, and he became less engaged in activities. The team had seen some modest improvement by the time of the hearing.
Mr. Vader Lewis has been using all his passes appropriately. With his mother or uncle (both approved persons), as well as staff, he goes into the community. Mr. Vader Lewis himself says he is not yet ready to enter the community indirectly supervised. No doubt this is closely related to his guilt and anxiety about the index offence and the reaction among those in the community of Hamilton.
Many of Mr. Vader Lewis’s family members attended the hearing. One uncle, who had prepared a victim impact statement, decided he did not want to tender it. Mr. Vader Lewis’s other uncle (who is an approved person) did tender a victim impact statement. He reiterated his support for Mr. Vader Lewis and his optimism that Mr. Vader Lewis will recover, while recognizing that there remains much work to do towards that goal.
Significant Threat
- The panel accepted the uncontradicted evidence from the hospital that Mr. Vader Lewis remains a significant threat to the safety of the public. Mr. Vader Lewis’s illness is treatment resistant – despite best efforts on his part and that of the team, he continues to experience auditory hallucinations and low mood. He is “emotionally fragile” and susceptible to stress. Currently, he finds comfort in being in the hospital. In addition to support, structure, and therapy, he is removed from the community – a source of real anxiety for him. Although Mr. Vader Lewis is not aggressive or violent in hospital (and assessed as a low risk under a detention order), his risk would elevate if he were granted an absolute discharge. Mr. Vader Lewis would immediately confront several stressors related to his return to the community that would be destabilizing. He would also have unconstrained access to cannabis – his historic drug of choice. Mr. Vader Lewis would be vulnerable to more aggressive and commanding auditory hallucinations. Given the gravity of the index offence and how early it is in Mr. Vader Lewis’s recovery, we were convinced that without supervision he would quickly become a real risk of causing someone serious bodily harm. Despite what we see as a very positive trajectory, Mr. Vader Lewis remains a significant threat to the safety of the public.
Necessary and Appropriate Disposition
As will hopefully be obvious from the above description of Mr. Vader Lewis’s current situation and progress, there was no air of reality to a conditional discharge at this time. Mr. Vader Lewis remains in hospital and does not feel ready to exercise indirectly supervised passes into the community. When he is, the team will work with him to increase his liberty at a rate comfortable for him and protective of the safety of the public. It is premature for Mr. Vader to return to live in the community, let alone do so without the hospital being in a position to approve housing.
The panel agreed with the joint position that the necessary and appropriate disposition remained a detention order with privileges that include access to the community with staff and approved persons.
DATED this 31st day of March 2025, at the City of Toronto, in the Toronto Region.
Leslie Maunder
Alternate Chairperson
Office of the Registrar
Ontario Review Board
Footnotes
- In last year’s Reasons, the Board noted that further information regarding the criminal harassment conviction would be helpful to the Hospital and the Board in the future. Counsel for the Attorney General at this hearing agreed to follow up – track down the information and provide it to the Hospital.