A B.C. two-spirited person repeatedly denied parole after a 1986 murder conviction has asked B.C. Supreme Court for a Wiccan priestess to be part of their file review.
In 1987, John Mark Lee Jr. was convicted of a brutal first-degree murder of William Patrick MacLeod,16, of Kingston, Ont. They were sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
“... Lee has been eligible for full parole for approximately 11 years and has been denied each time,” Justice Ardith Walkem said in her May 10 decision.
Lee had applied to the court for a number of things including a transfer from Pacific Institution in Abbotsford to Mountain Institution in Agassiz. Lee also wanted a computer and associated equipment, at-cost postage, computer storage services and storage for their legal files.
Lee wanted the Wiccan priestess to be employed by or connected to the Correctional Service of Canada to be part of the court proceedings and a review of their file. The request was in a case Lee brought against Pacific Institution warden Atilla Turi and the Parole Board of Canada.
A September 2021 Brandeis University article said Wicca is “an alternative minority religion whose adherents, regardless of gender, call themselves witches.”
Wiccans, the article said, “are part of the larger contemporary pagan movement, which includes druids and heathens among others. All these spiritual paths, as pagans refer to them, base their practices on pre-Christian religions and cultures.”
There is no explanation in the case why Lee wants a Wiccan priestess.
It should be remembered, though, that Lee once wanted a court to give them “a rabbit with carry cage and indoor/outdoor folding cage with food and other nutrients for the rabbit and any other needs for the rabbit ...”
Walkem denied Lee’s latest requests.
Walkem said the federal attorney general urged her to consider that Lee has been declared a vexatious litigant and “litigation terrorist” in Alberta’s courts.
In 2017, Lee lost an Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench (ABQB) case where they sued the family whose child they murdered, “alleging that [they were] the subject of intentionally inflicted mental suffering by those family members due to them maintaining a memorial Facebook page for the deceased child, and the victim impact statements that the family members had made at [their] parole hearings.”
In 2007, a B.C. court struck a case in which Lee claimed $100,000 after being allegedly denied homeopathic treatments and their right to sunbath nude.
In 2018, Lee lost an ABQB case after suing a nurse because she had refused to deliver prescribed drugs to their cell although they were required to attend a nursing station to obtain them.
“... Lee alleged this caused him stress, leading to more sex with other inmates. He demanded $20,000.00 in damages on that basis. Costs of $10,192.92 were awarded against [Lee],” that case said.
In a 2006 suit, Lee sought money to start a prison French fry truck, a 3,000-seat restaurant as well as to fund a number of inventions, including a Star Trek game and projects to do with toaster ovens, exercise machines beads and ice.
Lee also wanted Capital One to make them their spokesperson and their corporate cover model and consider posting them in promotional billboards and other ads to promote their credit cards.
Lee went to the Federal Court of Canada seeking $148,465 from defendants to fund their “Tougher Times Handbook” project. Their budget for that work included more than $90,000 for office supplies and $1,440 for donuts. In that case, they also sought surgery to receive chin and cheekbone implants to make Lee “look more photogenic.”
Mood lighting and indoor string lights were also requested.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated John Mark Lee Jr. was up for parole.
