HALIFAX - An inquiry into the death of a mentally ill Nova Scotia man has heard from the Crown attorney who recommended the conditional release of Howard Hyde the day before he died in custody.
Cheryl Byard, the 35th witness to testify at the inquiry, says she winced when she learned Hyde could not meet the conditions she recommended for his release, which included the requirement for a $1,500 surety.
Byard testified that she knew Hyde -- a diagnosed schizophrenic who had been arrested for allegedly assaulting his common-law wife --had not been taking his medication for a week and had been Tasered by police before he was taken to hospital the night before.
She said she felt there were no probable grounds to ask for a court-ordered psychiatric assessment because Hyde had been medically cleared by the hospital and he wasn't displaying any outward distress.
The inquiry has heard that a doctor at the Queen Elizabeth 2 hospital in Halifax had ordered that Hyde be returned to the hospital if the court failed to order an assessment -- but those instructions were not relayed to the Crown.
Byard says if she had that information, she would have called police to ask what the doctor meant because Hyde had already been medically cleared by the hospital.
