Law360 Canada ( May 18, 2018, 8:36 AM EDT) -- Applications by the accused to extend the time to appeal his 2015 convictions for assault causing bodily harm and breach of a probation order and for the appointment of counsel to represent him on his appeal from the 2017 convictions for break and enter and assault causing bodily harm. The appellant had pleaded guilty in each case and was represented by counsel. He personally confirmed with the sentencing judge that he wished to enter guilty pleas on the 2015 offences. The appellant had struggled with a number of serious mental health challenges, including schizophrenia. At no point when the guilty pleas were entered in 2015, or during the appellant’s exchanges with the sentencing judge about one month later, did he attempt to justify his conduct on grounds that he was acting in self-defence. The appellant applied for funding in connection with the proposed appeal from the 2015 convictions almost two years after the guilty pleas were entered and about 21 months after the expiry of the appeal period. He claimed not to have known that he could proceed on his own with an appeal challenging the validity of his guilty pleas. He argued his 2015 pleas of guilty were involuntary, uninformed or both and now believed that he was acting in self-defence when he struck the victim. The appellant claimed that when he entered the guilty pleas he was experiencing considerable stress associated with being in custody and that these stressors were exacerbated by his mental health problems and paranoid delusions he was experiencing in 2014 and 2015. The appellant now argued he pleaded guilty to the 2017 offences as a means of securing a time served disposition even though he was concerned about the facts upon which the conviction was based, and said so at the sentencing hearing....