Marshall charged after altercation

Donald Marshall Jr., who was wrongly convicted of murder, has been ordered by a judge to undergo a psychiatric assessment after being charged with attempted murder.

Marshall, 53, is accused of trying to hit a man with his car on New Year's Eve in Membertou.

Const. Paul Tobin said RCMP received the first complaint against Marshall on Oct. 30, when a resident said Marshall made death threats against him.

Tobin said the same person filed a similar complaint on Dec. 31, as well as a complaint of dangerous driving.

Marshall was arrested Monday in Halifax, where he has a home. He was brought to Sydney and appeared in court the next day.

In addition to attempted murder, Marshall has been charged with making a death threat and dangerous driving.

During his court appearance, Marshall asked that the judge's comments be translated into Mi'kmaq. He also complained he wasn't receiving the medication he was prescribed after a 2003 double-lung transplant.

He'll spend 30 days undergoing a psychiatric assessment.

Marshall was wrongfully convicted of murdering Sandy Seale in 1971. He was released from jail in 1983 when his conviction was overturned, and later exonerated.

A royal commission found systemic racism and made wide-ranging recommendations for change in the justice system. Many of them were adopted.

Marshall made headlines again in 1999 by winning a landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling that reaffirmed the Mi'kmaq's treaty right to fish for a moderate livelihood.

Terry Paul, chief of the Membertou First Nation, said Marshall has been a symbolic figure for Mi'kmaq over the years.

But he said Marshall hasn't been the same since undergoing his lung operation in May 2003.

"He has not been himself, that's for sure. I've talked to his friends and I've talked to him myself and I've noticed that," Paul said.