FWIW, after their death sentences were overturned, Charles Manson and his followers were first eligible for parole after seven years. All of them are still in prison and, like Susan Atkins, are likely to die there.
So parole isn’t guaranteed under any circumstance.
Sometimes I’m ashamed of Ontario…
…what?
Ow, don’t hurt me, it’s a joke! 
Obviously, he only felt that he could “be himself” … in Montreal. 
He’s charged with 1st degree murder (and very hard to see how it could be reduced to 2nd degree), for which the sentence is a mandatory 40 years with no eligibility for parole for 25. And of course eligibility doesn’t mean he’ll necessarily be granted it.
I doubt he’s got a shot at a mental institution, either. Nothing about this screams schizophrenia to me the way the Manitoba bus beheading so clearly did. Whoever called narcissism upthread is squarely on the money - dude was caught while reading news stories about himself.
Sorry for being a party pooper. But I don’t have much faith in our justice system up here. Drunk drivers that kill people only serve a couple of years, max. Karla Homolka got out in little over a decade, and she took part in the killing of her own sister and two other people. I hear she’s a mom of three now. Also, even though I’m a little reluctant to say it but the Quebec legal system isn’t a big fan of throwing away the key when it comes to criminals. Not intended as a bash, just the facts.
Because that was her plea deal. Paul Bernardo is never getting out of prison. Clifford Olson is never getting out of prison. Robert Pickton is never getting out of prison. And this guy, once he gets there, will never get out of prison.
Except that the evidence they had even before the plea deal was even tabled proved that she was just as culpable as Bernardo was for the same crimes that sent him away for life. As long as they got they white dude, that’s all that was important in the eyes of the Canadian legal system.
My point is, he will have undoubtedly have an opportunity of trying to get out of prison after X amount of years. Which I think is wrong when it comes to the Canadian version of a “life sentence”.
Big deal some might say, the bureaucratic process is part of the system that we call fair justice. But what if it was your family member that was the victim of this heinous crime and you have to go through this hearing X amount of years from now.
Speaking of family, the victim was a citizen of China. I wonder what their press is saying?
The mandatory sentence for first degree is life imprisonment, not 40 years.
you should check your facts better, then. Criminal law is a federal matter across the country and parole decisions are made by the federal parole board, regardless of theProvince where the crime was committed.
I read that they were attributing it to racial prejudice and were warning Chinese nationals in Canada to be careful. Since the guy is believed to have been posting on Stormfront, you can see why they would say that.
Again, you should check your facts. The federal government has eliminated the faint hope clause, so a person convicted of first degree is not eligible for parole until serving 25 years.
But they get a shot at parole after 25 years don’t they ? Unless declared a dangerous offender, which doesn’t translate to a “life” imprisonment sentence to me where I’m from.
From another forum I read, this almost certainly isn’t true. It seems the only ‘evidence’ of this is the guy’s own Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Dramatica pages that he was editing himself. At one point, he even edited them to say they were married and had a kid together…
This guy is extremely disturbed, and extremely narcissistic. He had a huge habit of doing a lot of things for attention on the internet, good or bad (like several videos of him torturing and killing cats, which he eventually served 90 days in jail for.) He liked to claim he was an actor, model, gay porn star, etc… when he really wasn’t any of those things. I mean…he did do a few gay porn movies, but from what I’ve read, they were crazy low-budget, “guy with a camera filming in his basement” type of deal. Apparently he was well known amongst the “craigslist gay prostitute ring” in Montreal. In addition, he had a weird habit of making sock accounts on all manner of internet forums, Youtube, etc… and frequently commented about himself…sometimes he would praise himself, other times he’d join the pile-on against him. When he was arrested, he was in an internet cafe, looking at and commenting on pictures/posts of himself.
Getting a “shot” at parole doesn’t equal getting granted parole. By any stretch of the concept.
That does seem to be how it goes - if you want to kill someone and basically get away with it, get drunk and use your car. But that’s probably too off topic for this thread.
I guess we’ll see if he is truly nuts or just really, really weird.
Psst… Northern Piper is a lawyer in Canada. He’s more versed in Canadian law than you are. Therefore, you might want to turn the TV off and put the newspaper down and listen to what he has to say.
Thank you, Ms Robyn.
Well, we had this conversation just a few months ago, in the Canadoper thread:
[QUOTE=Northern Piper]
[QUOTE=Ibanez]
Sorry talking out of my ass again. Either way when the media eventaully reports he got a life sentence I’m still going to end up screaming at the tv that 25 years without that chance of parol isn’t a “life” sentence in this country. Unless he gets dangerous offender status.
[/QUOTE]
Four points:
if someone is convicted of first degree and gets a life sentence, there is no guarantee they will be released after 25 years. It is simply parole eligibility, not “get out of jail” after 25 years.
even if granted parole after 25 years, the person is still within the control of Corrections Canada for the rest of their life, with restrictions on movement, reporting obligations, and the strong likelihood of being re-jugged on short notice if they breach their terms of parole or commit another crime.
a person with dangerous offender status is eligible to apply for release after 7 years from conviction, not 25 years in the case of 1st degree murder, and every 2 years thereafter.
4 a person convicted of first degree murder cannot be declared a dangerous offender for that offence, as life without parole eligibility for 25 years is the more serious sentence.
[/QUOTE]
Ibanez did not respond to that post.
We can of course disagree as to the efficacy of the Canadian life sentence for murder; that’s a reasonable matter for public debate. However, I think Ibanez should stop confusing it with the dangerous offender status, which has much lower parole ineligibility periods. (7 years initially, until the first review, then every 2 years thereafter for dangerous offender, compared to 25 years for first degree murderers). That’s why someone convicted of first degree murder cannot be declared a dangerous offender; the sentence for first degree murder is more onerous than the dangerous offender sentence.
As well, Ibanez, since this is factual dispute, if you think that it is easy for someone convicted of murder to make parole after 25 years, you should provide something more than just your opinion that so-and-so will get out. What are the numbers that you think suggest the National Parole Board releases murderers willy-nilly?
Wait, what??
We’re supposed to post FACTS on this message board? WTF?
The Globe and Mail is reporting that Magnotta won’t fight extradition, and could be back in Canada in a week. Link here.