Robert Latimer, a Saskatchewan farmer imprisoned for killing his severely handicapped daughter, is to be released on day parole after seven years behind bars, an appeal board said Wednesday.
In a move that pleased Latimer's supporters but angered some advocates for people with disabilities, the National Parole Board Appeal Division reversed a decision in early December by a three-person panel of the parole board that denied parole to Latimer, saying he refused to acknowledge his actions were a crime.
In a written decision, the appeal division said the denial could not be supported in law and a delay in releasing Latimer "would be unfair."
It said the circumstances of Latimer's offence were unique and it was unlikely he would find himself in a similar high-risk situation. Latimer will be transferred to a halfway house in Ottawa in the next three or four days when a bed is available.
Advocates for the disabled lashed out at the decision on Wednesday.
"I worry that the public will understand this parole as some kind of sanction of what he did," Jim Derksen of the Council for Canadians with Disabilities told CBC News in Winnipeg.
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In a move that pleased Latimer's supporters but angered some advocates for people with disabilities, the National Parole Board Appeal Division reversed a decision in early December by a three-person panel of the parole board that denied parole to Latimer, saying he refused to acknowledge his actions were a crime.
In a written decision, the appeal division said the denial could not be supported in law and a delay in releasing Latimer "would be unfair."
It said the circumstances of Latimer's offence were unique and it was unlikely he would find himself in a similar high-risk situation. Latimer will be transferred to a halfway house in Ottawa in the next three or four days when a bed is available.
Advocates for the disabled lashed out at the decision on Wednesday.
"I worry that the public will understand this parole as some kind of sanction of what he did," Jim Derksen of the Council for Canadians with Disabilities told CBC News in Winnipeg.
Full story
Do you agree with the decision to allow parole for Robert Latimer?
More...
