Assessment ordered for woman charged in murder (Picture included)

Joline Cross will have to “languish” in jail until the end of the month because a psychiatric bed won’t be available until then for a fitness assessment, her lawyer Frank Falconi said Tuesday.

Cross, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death Friday of Rita Quinlan. Both were patients at the North Bay Psychiatric Hospital at the time of Quinlan’s death.

A post-mortem held Monday listed the official cause of death as asphyxia.


North Bay Police believe Quinlan was strangled, because
marks were found on her neck.

Police believe a disagreement between the two women had occurred prior to Quinlan’s death.

Evidence sufficient enough for remand
Cross, her graduation picture shown above, made her second appearance in the Superior Court of Justice, Tuesday, in front of Justice Norm Karam.

The court heard from Dr. Patricia Achiume, medical director of acute services at the North Bay Psychiatric Hospital, who gave evidence about whether Cross should be remanded to a psychiatric hospital for a fitness assessment.

A court-ordered ban prevents the publication of Achiume’s evidence.

But it was sufficient enough for Karam to order Cross to be remanded to a psychiatric hospital.

“On the basis of the evidence I’m making the order for a 60-day period of assessment, which would not be out of the ordinary considering her health history,” Karam said.
“The evidence is compelling, and the circumstances justify the order.”

No beds available
Falconi told Karam there were no beds available in Ontario at the moment, but that one was expected to become available at the Whitby Mental Health Centre, in Whitby, at the end of the month.

Karam ordered Cross to be remanded to the Whitby facility once a bed is available.

“The purpose is to determine whether the accused is fit to stand trial,” Karam said.

Languish in jail
Until Cross is transferred, Falconi said, “she will languish in jail” in North Bay.

He said the wait would have been at least two months for any other psychiatric hospital in Ontario, had the Whitby bed not been found.

Cross’s brother Blaine was in the court room as well as other members of her family.