Re: Kyle Newburgh (aka Russell Shepherd)
ORB File No: 7265
Hearing held on: Thursday, June 12, 2025
Place of hearing: St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, West 5^th^ Campus Hamilton, Ontario
Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code
Before:
Alternate Chairperson: Ms. L. Maunder Members: Dr. P. Darby Dr. G. Stones Mr. R. Bigelow Mr. A. Mete
Parties Appearing:
The Accused: Mr. K. Newburgh (aka R. Shepherd) Counsel for the Accused: Mr. A. Rai Counsel for the Person in charge of Hospital: Ms. L. Barney Counsel for the Attorney General of Ontario: Mr. I. Shaikh
REASONS FOR DISPOSITION
(Dated: August 1, 2025)
Introduction
On November 24, 2017, Kyle Newburgh (who uses the name Russell Shepherd and will be referred to as Mr. Shepherd throughout these Reasons), was found not criminally responsible on Criminal Code charges of arson – damage to property and personating a peace officer. At the time of the hearing, Mr. Shepherd was subject to an order detaining him at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, with privileges up to and including living in the community in approved housing. On June 12, 2025, the Board convened to conduct an annual review of Mr. Shepherd’s disposition.
The parties all agreed that the necessary and appropriate disposition was a continuation of the detention order under the same terms with one exception – Mr. Shepherd asked to amend the prohibition on substance use to allow him to use cannabis purchased from a licensed dispensary. For the purposes of this hearing, significant threat was not contested. For the reasons set out below, the panel found that the evidence established that Mr. Shepherd remained a significant threat. We concluded that the necessary and appropriate disposition was a detention order on the same terms as last year, including a prohibition on all substance use, including cannabis.
The Index Offences
Summarized below are the facts of the index offences as set out in the Hospital Report, derived from a police synopsis. The facts relied upon by the Court may have differed.
On February 4, 2017, Mr. Shepherd lit a house on fire, using gas in multiple spots. He then stood across the street while it burned, filming it. He told an onlooker: “Don’t call the cops, let it burn.”
While no one was injured in the fire, the damage to the home was approximately $100,000.
Mr. Shepherd was on bail when, six weeks later, he identified himself as a police officer to a woman who was in her car in the parking lot of an LCBO. He was dressed in black, with gloves. He carried a flashlight and had a knife and lighter in holsters on a belt. He accused her of impaired driving. As the woman began to drive away, he pursued on foot and pulled something from his pocket – she believed it might be a knife or a gun. She left and called the police.
Background / Context
Mr. Shepherd is 38 years old. From the available history, it appears his childhood was unremarkable until his parents separated and his father suffered a brain aneurysm, all within a few months, when he was twelve years old. Soon after, Mr. Shepherd began to use substances. He was arrested as part of a large scale “drug bust” when he was about 18 years old. He did not finish high school. At some juncture he started working in construction.
In 2013, when he was in his mid-twenties, his father died. The loss was significant – they were close. The following year, he was in a car accident and suffered a back injury.
Mr. Shepherd has had several significant relationships with women and has a son with whom he has contact.
Mr. Shepherd has a significant substance use history including alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis and prescription drugs.
Mr. Shepherd was convicted of theft as a youth. His adult record consists of convictions for trafficking a schedule 1 substance, uttering threats (twice), resisting arrest, fail to comply with probation, possession of cannabis, and fail to comply with a recognizance. It appears the most time he spent in custody was 20 days pre-sentence custody on his last set of charges.
Mr. Shepherd’s first psychiatric contact was when he was about 16 years old. He was seen for substance abuse problems. In 2009 (when he was about 22), he was diagnosed with psychosis, but it was unclear if it was substance induced. In 2013, his family reported paranoid delusions and bizarre behaviour. In the fall of 2016 (not long before the index offences), he was very unwell, drinking a lot, and had stopped paying his rent.
When Mr. Shepherd was first admitted to hospital after the index offences, he was agitated and delusional. His psychosis persisted after substances had cleared his system. He had no insight into his illness but accepted antipsychotic medication as prescribed. Very slowly, with treatment and no substance use, his symptoms of psychosis resolved, followed by an increase in insight such that he could begin to question his paranoid delusions. Eventually his delusions also abated.
While in hospital, during the three years it took for his symptoms to completely resolve, Mr. Shepherd was not aggressive or violent. He was generally calm and cooperative but became irritable and verbally abusive sometimes when he was constrained by rules or did not get his way. He went to school and completed the courses he needed to graduate from high school. He began to use passes into the community.
Mr. Shepherd engaged in substance use programming including DBT for relapse prevention and individual counselling. He did have some slip ups – he bought oxycodone while on a pass on hospital grounds in September 2018 and he used alcohol in September 2019 – but overall, he seemed internally motivated to remain abstinent from most substances.
In 2020, Mr. Shepherd was stable enough that he used passes into the community daily to work a full-time job until the COVID lockdown. He was discharged to a CMHA supported independent apartment in June 2020. He returned to work four days a week and engaged in one-to-one relapse prevention sessions with a counsellor.
Mr. Shepherd had an appendectomy and was prescribed opiates post-surgery. He quickly realized he was at risk of substance use relapse and arranged for alternative pain relief.
Mr. Shepherd reported feeling bored and isolated in the community because he had to avoid those who used substances.
After Mr. Shepherd was granted a conditional discharge, he relapsed to substance use, at first briefly, but then more persistently. In March 2022, he told the team he had been using cocaine daily since July 2021 and had also been using crystal methamphetamine. He was discovered to have paranoid delusions in January 2022 and returned to hospital briefly but left against medical advice.
Mr. Shepherd was evicted from his apartment and returned to hospital in March 2022, at first as a voluntary patient and then an involuntary patient. He was exhibiting “prominent symptoms of psychosis, including paranoid delusions, religious preoccupation, referential ideation, and perceptual disturbance.” The hospital asked for and was granted a detention order. Mr. Shepherd has remained in hospital ever since.
Since his readmission to hospital in March 2022, Mr. Shepherd has experienced some periods of stability when he is abstinent from substances and taking his antipsychotic medication. In those periods, he progresses through the privilege ladder and often finds work. The Hospital Report describes regular employment as a “potent protective factor” for Mr. Shepherd. However, at other times, and frequently, he has engaged in substance use. He is industrious and manages to access substances even when on a secure unit or in a “locked pod” utilized to restrict his access. He has used opioids, crystal methamphetamine, and cocaine. At such times, his compliance with his antipsychotic medication has been intermittent. He has shown clear decompensation in his mental state, with a return of agitation and paranoid delusions.
The Current Year
Dr. Wesley Sutton, Mr. Shepherd’s psychiatrist, testified at the hearing. He had read and adopted the Hospital Report.
Mr. Shepherd’s current diagnoses are substance induced psychotic disorder, alcohol use disorder – in sustained remission, opiate use disorder – in sustained remission, cannabis use disorder, stimulant use disorder, and antisocial personality disorder.
Mr. Shepherd often thrives in the summer months. Last summer, after he had been stable and abstinent for a few months, he began working again. He was working almost full-time, as a janitor and landscaper. In October, his employer reported that Mr. Shepherd was not himself. He was sleeping poorly. He quit his job. He became delusional. He was apparently using cannabis and had stopped taking his antipsychotic medication. The hospital stopped his privileges, triggering a Restriction of Liberty hearing in November 2024.
Mr. Shepherd continued to use cannabis on and off throughout the year and his adherence to antipsychotic medication was inconsistent. He was sometimes put into a locked pod to restrict his access to substances and manage his behaviour. On one occasion, he was secluded. He did not return to his baseline for any sustained period during the year. The team noted significant changes to his mental status attributable to his cannabis use: “agitation, bizarre behaviour, and at times, aggression and threatening behaviour.” He vocalized more delusional and bizarre beliefs and responded to internal stimuli.
Mr. Shepherd continued to engage in one-to-one substance use counselling but remained ambivalent about abstinence from cannabis. At the time of the hearing, his last positive screen for cannabis had been three weeks earlier and he was expressing a desire to get back to the community. Dr. Sutton was hopeful that he was following his pattern of improving in the summer.
Mr. Shepherd is on the waitlist for TRHP housing and could likely be discharged soon after he is deemed ready to live in the community.
Testimony of Mr. Shepherd
Mr. Shepherd testified that he wanted to be able to use cannabis because it made him more creative, successful, productive, and social.
Mr. Shepherd was asked if he would be willing to buy low THC cannabis from licensed dispensaries and said he would “start at the bottom” but his goal would be to increase the THC because “you build a tolerance”.
When asked to reflect on the treatment team’s view that cannabis leads to deterioration in his mental state, Mr. Shepherd said he knew what they were referring to but that those behaviours occur when he is sober and coming down after cannabis use, not from the use itself.
Significant Threat
The panel concluded that Mr. Shepherd remains a significant threat to the safety of the public. After years of substance use, Mr. Shepherd developed symptoms of psychosis that included agitation, paranoia and delusions. These symptoms were behind the index offences. Mr. Shepherd remains highly susceptible to worsening symptoms of psychosis when he uses substances. This seems to be the case even when he adheres to his antipsychotic medication (although he often is non-adherent when he is using substances). Consistently, over his eight-year tenure under the jurisdiction of the Board, his use of substances has caused a decline in his mental state – a return to irritability, increased delusions, bizarre behaviour, and more threatening and aggressive (but not violent) behaviour. The pattern has persisted when the substance used is cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and, as was demonstrated this year, cannabis.
We accepted the opinion of Dr. Sutton that without the oversight of the Board, Mr. Shepherd’s substance use would continue and very likely worsen, leading to further deterioration in his mental state, increased agitation and aggression. His agitation and aggression, in conjunction with worsening paranoid delusions would lead him to engage in dangerous (and criminal) conduct as he did at the time of the index offences. We concluded that Mr. Shepherd was a real risk of causing serious physical or psychological harm to others.
Necessary and Appropriate Disposition
The panel concluded that the necessary and appropriate disposition was a continuation of the detention order on the same terms as last year.
A detention order is needed because Mr. Shepherd remains in hospital with a deteriorated mental state from his regular substance use. When Mr. Shepherd returns to abstinence (as we hope he does) and is ready for discharge to the community, the hospital will need to be able to return him to hospital quickly (and keep him, if need be) if he decompensates.
We concluded that a prohibition on substances, including cannabis, remained necessary and appropriate. While we were cognizant that Mr. Shepherd must be granted the least onerous and least restrictive disposition, and that that may include allowing the use of legal substances in appropriate circumstances, we were satisfied the prohibition was both necessary and appropriate in this case. As noted above, the evidence established a clear link between cannabis use and Mr. Shepherd experiencing worsening symptoms of psychosis. He became a higher risk when his psychosis worsened. We rejected Mr. Shepherd’s testimony to the contrary.
In addition, we were satisfied that allowing any cannabis use (including use of low THC cannabis purchased at a licensed dispensary) would lead to more use of cannabis and likely other substances, with even greater negative impact on Mr. Shepherd’s mental state. Mr. Shepherd’s testimony supported this conclusion – he demonstrated little or no insight into the negative impact of substances on his mental state and testified that he would need to increase the amount of THC he used as he built a tolerance.
Granting Mr. Shepherd the right to use cannabis (even under prescribed conditions) was quite simply contrary to our paramount obligation to protect the safety of the public. It also happened to be contraindicated for his mental state and his reintegration into society.
DATED this 1^st^ day of August 2025, at the City of Toronto, in the Toronto Region.
Leslie Maunder Alternate Chairperson
Office of the Registrar Ontario Review Board