Published June 08, 2007 12:15 am - The alleged murderer wore a protective spit guard and barely spoke during his arraignment in Mooers Thursday night.
Race pleads innocent in Manor murder
Family, friends of murdered Mooers man turn out for arraignment
By SUZANNE MOORE
Staff Writer
MOOERS -- Glen D. Race pleaded innocent on Thursday evening to killing Darcy Manor.
His lower face hidden by a protective white spit guard and hands restrained, the Nova Scotia man, 26, was arraigned before Mooers Town Justice Jeff Menard on the charge of second-degree murder in a courtroom packed with a hushed and grim-faced crowd of about 60, mostly members of Manor's family, including his widow, Heather.
"Do you understand that charge, sir?" the judge asked Race after explaining it in detail.
Eyes closed, Race nodded with a deliberate forward jerk of his head. He repeated the motion after Menard asked if he comprehended the second charge of fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property -- the Ruger .44 caliber rifle that belongs to Martin B. Lavin, who owns the Mooers camp at 811 Drown Road where the Mooers father of two young sons was slain on May 10.
Believed to be the murder weapon, the rifle was found in Race's possession upon his arrest in Texas near the Mexican border.
With another nod, Race accepted appointed counsel, and Menard granted a recess so the defendant could meet briefly in another room with Plattsburgh attorney Daniel Gaudreau.
The crowd waited out the break with whispered conversation. Mrs. Manor, surrounded by loved ones, wiped her eyes, light glinting off the wedding band on her left hand.
"I have so much rage right now," said Cheryl Rovelli of Churubusco, sitting in the front row of the courtroom with a white purse on her lap.
She attended the arraignment "to see what would happen" to the man accused of killing Manor, who she said "was a very good man.
"He definitely did not deserve this. My heart goes out to his family," she said, as tears fell.
Held without bail
Back in the courtroom, Gaudreau made Race's innocent plea. Race will be held without bail and will undergo a psychological evaluation as per the request of Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie.
Race has paranoid schizophrenia, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, attorney Joel E. Pink -- who represents the man's family -- has said he would pursue an insanity plea should Race be prosecuted in that province, where he is accused of murdering two men prior to the killing of Manor.
"We're not concerned at all about that," Wylie said later about having a similar defense brought in Clinton County.
Race, he said, murdered two men in the Halifax area, traveled down through Canada, escaped across the border into New York state and killed Manor.
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