The third day of Michael Nehass’ hearing alleging his rights were violated focused on his decision to remain in custody before his trial.

He has been at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre since December 2011, when he turned himself in.

He was wanted for the assault and forcible confinement of a Watson Lake woman.

He was convicted last May.

The sentencing is halted until the challenge he filed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is dealt with.

Crown prosecutor Eric Marcoux asked Nehass why he consented to stay in custody until his trial last May.

“Fighting for bail would only prolong things,” Nehass told the court.

He said he consented “under duress.”

“If I had a good chance, I would have gone for it,” he said.

He was also asked about numerous delays before his trial went through.

His trial was rescheduled three times – at first because of issues between Nehass and his counsel.

Nehass explained he fired two successive private lawyers he had hired, David Tarnow and Bibhas Vaze.

He re-hired Vaze in September 2014, after the lawyer contacted his aunt through Facebook, Nehass testified.

The trial had to be rescheduled a third time because no judge was available.

It finally took place in the spring of 2015.

Long delays are one of the grounds under which Nehass filed his challenge.

As a remedy he is asking the court to release him and set aside his conviction.

Marcoux filed a copy of Nehass’s criminal record to the court.

Nehass noted he was wrongfully accused of sexually assaulting a female correctional officer in 2010.

He was cleared of the charge, but pleaded guilty to obstructing her in her duty.

Vaze, who was representing him at the time, took the unusual step to talk to the Star about what he felt was a trumped-up charge.

He told the Star he suspected the charge was an attempt to get Nehass sent to a federal prison.

“I don’t have any hardcore evidence to point to this, but basically the thinking was: ‘It would be great if we could get him to the pen and get him out of here,’” he told the Star at the time.

The court also briefly heard yesterday from Philip Perrin, the jail’s health manager.

He testified he was concerned about Nehass’ mental health.

Perrin is a registered nurse. He can make assessments but not medical diagnosis, he later clarified.

Marcoux questioned Nehass about his long-standing claim of having been sterilized.

Nehass told the court it happened at WCC.

He testified in very graphic details about how he said it happened.

To this day he can’t have children, and still has scars on his testicules, he said.

Judge Scott Brooker, who is hearing the case, made an order at the end of Wednesday’s hearing to have all videos of the Jan. 22 incident WCC has to be released to the defence.

Nehass accepted some of these be shown in court but vehemently opposed his lawyer showing a video shot from a handheld camera during the incident.

The video was shot from up close and was humiliating for him, he expressed.

The hearing continues today and is expected to be adjourned until the end of the month.