Brad Southwind has been convicted of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his best friend six years ago in Elliot Lake.
A Sault Ste. Marie judge found the 28-year-old guilty Wednesday of killing Joseph Topping.
The 31-year-old's body was found on Feb. 14, 2018 in a wooded marshy area behind the apartment complex where the two men lived.
He had been stabbed 17 times.
Superior Court Justice Michael Varpio concluded that Southwind had intended to kill the victim when he repeatedly stabbed him with a knife.
The killing was "particularly brutal" and many of the wounds were of significant force, he said.
A forensic pathologist, who examined Topping's body, indicated three of the wounds to the head and upper torso were the likely cause of death.
Southwind's statements to police and a psychiatrist made it clear his intention was to kill his friend, Varpio said.
The accused didn't indicate he did not understand the consequences of his actions.
"Instead, he effectively admitted that he intended to cause Mr. Topping's death," the judge said.
Southwind confessed to killing him in the summer of 2018 and was charged with first-degree murder.
In July 2022, his jury trial came to an abrupt end after that judge declared a mistrial.
At his new judge-alone trial in December of last year, prosecutors Karen Pritchard and David Didiodato again argued that he was guilty of first-degree murder.
Defence lawyers Donald Orazietti and Anthony Orazietti maintained that their client should be convicted of manslaughter.
During the trial, Varpio heard testimony from one witness: psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Van Impe.
An expert in forensic psychiatry at the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in Penetanguishene, he met with Southwind following his arrest and determined he was fit to stand trial.
He testified that the accused was in a psychotic state at the time of the incident, wasn't taking medications prescribed to treat his schizophrenia and was heavily abusing illicit drugs, particularly crystal meth.
Southwind was "very intoxicated," hallucinating and delusional. He believed Topping could read his mind and was telling him telepathically that he wanted to die.
Van Impe said in his opinion, the crime would not have occurred but for Southwind's mental illness and intoxication issues.
"I am of the opinion that Mr. Southwind knew he was stabbing the victim and that his actions would cause the victim to die," he also told the court.
Varpio said Wednesday that Van Impe's evidence supports the view that Southwind "was aware of the consequences of his actions, irrespective of his intoxication and psychosis."
First-degree murder is planned and deliberate, and the judge said he has reasonable doubt that Southwind engaged in that.
He described the man's admissions about his state of mind leading up to the murder as seemingly unreliable as they are "viewed through the lens of psychosis and intoxication."
As well, Southwind's confessions suggest that "he may well have acted on impulse, a suggestion that is supported by the doctor's diagnosis."
During his interviews with Van Impe, he said both men were using drugs that day.
A date for sentencing will be set on Feb.7.
The penalty for second-degree murder is life imprisonment with parole eligibility between 10 and 25 years.