Forty years without parole for Eaton Centre shooter does not violate Charter, judge rules | National Post
A criminal code provision that could see a convicted Toronto murderer spend 40 years in prison before being eligible for parole does not violate his Charter rights, an Ontario judge ruled Thursday.
Christopher Husbands killed two and wounded five others in a shooting rampage at a busy downtown mall in June 2012. A Toronto jury convicted him of two counts of second-degree murder and a host of other lesser charges last December.
Husbands faced an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole for between 10 and 25 years on the two murder verdicts. Historically he would have served those sentences concurrently. However, a change to the criminal law brought in by the Conservative government in 2011 now allows judges to order consecutive parole eligibilities in certain cases.
On Thursday, Superior Court Justice Eugene Ewaschuk ruled that that provision does not violate Husbands’ Charter right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
Ewaschuk is expected to deliver a sentence later Thursday. Under the code, Husbands could theoretically face a minimum sentence of 50 years. However, the Crown has for two consecutive 20-year parole ineligibilities, or what would amount to a minimum 40-year sentence, a bar Ewaschuk has indicated he will not exceed.
A criminal code provision that could see a convicted Toronto murderer spend 40 years in prison before being eligible for parole does not violate his Charter rights, an Ontario judge ruled Thursday.
Christopher Husbands killed two and wounded five others in a shooting rampage at a busy downtown mall in June 2012. A Toronto jury convicted him of two counts of second-degree murder and a host of other lesser charges last December.
Husbands faced an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole for between 10 and 25 years on the two murder verdicts. Historically he would have served those sentences concurrently. However, a change to the criminal law brought in by the Conservative government in 2011 now allows judges to order consecutive parole eligibilities in certain cases.
On Thursday, Superior Court Justice Eugene Ewaschuk ruled that that provision does not violate Husbands’ Charter right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
Ewaschuk is expected to deliver a sentence later Thursday. Under the code, Husbands could theoretically face a minimum sentence of 50 years. However, the Crown has for two consecutive 20-year parole ineligibilities, or what would amount to a minimum 40-year sentence, a bar Ewaschuk has indicated he will not exceed.
