Harshest sentence in Canada since 1962 handed out to Edmonton, AB man

[Barrister]

So when is that bus-decapitator cannibal getting released?

He's gotten some day-passes already IIRC.  He probably qualifies for full supervised release but for the politics of it.

[dps]

Personally, I would have seen him hanged by the neck.

Don't think people will be surprised that that's my opinion as well.

[Ideologue]

Personally, I would have seen him hanged by the neck.

Concur, but more forcefully.

It's a filthy contradiction of our society that we "value life" so much that we prefer to make it unbearably awful for 40 years instead of mercifully ending it.

Ariel Castro notwithstanding, most of the men on death row are pretty vocal about preferring not to be dead...

That's a biological imperative talking.  Why listen to the words of cowards?

I also propound the argument that life imprisonment is a bad use of societal resources.

[Barrister]

Personally, I would have seen him hanged by the neck.

Concur, but more forcefully.

It's a filthy contradiction of our society that we "value life" so much that we prefer to make it unbearably awful for 40 years instead of mercifully ending it.

Ariel Castro notwithstanding, most of the men on death row are pretty vocal about preferring not to be dead...

That's a biological imperative talking.  Why listen to the words of cowards?

I also propound the argument that life imprisonment is a bad use of societal resources.

In wanting to "not die", surely we all are cowards...


On balance, I am in favour of the death penalty.  I just find it surprising how easily some people favour it.

[Zanza]

Curious what Americans (and Euros) think of this sentence.  Too harsh?  Too lenient?

A life sentence for murder is pretty usual, so why should anybody think it too harsh or too lenient? The 40 year wait until the first parole hearing is peculiar, but I found the concept of serving consecutively instead of concurrently more interesting. We used to have that but abolished it decades ago.

[Grey Fox]

Curious what Americans (and Euros) think of this sentence.  Too harsh?  Too lenient?

A life sentence for murder is pretty usual, so why should anybody think it too harsh or too lenient? The 40 year wait until the first parole hearing is peculiar, but I found the concept of serving consecutively instead of concurrently more interesting. We used to have that but abolished it decades ago.

Canadian Life sentence is usually, and was never over, 25 years before first parole hearing.

[Malthus]

So when is that bus-decapitator cannibal getting released?

Wasn't he found not guilty by reason of insanity? Can't remember now.

[Barrister]

So when is that bus-decapitator cannibal getting released?

Wasn't he found not guilty by reason of insanity? Can't remember now.

Yes.  Finding of Not Criminally Responsible by reason of Mental Defect (NCRMD to those of us in the biz).

[Malthus]

So when is that bus-decapitator cannibal getting released?

Wasn't he found not guilty by reason of insanity? Can't remember now.

Yes.  Finding of Not Criminally Responsible by reason of Mental Defect (NCRMD to those of us in the biz).

Presumably, if they cure his "mental defect" or control it with drugs, he could walk free ... ? Not sure how this works. I assume he has to go before some sort of formal assessment.

[Barrister]

So when is that bus-decapitator cannibal getting released?

Wasn't he found not guilty by reason of insanity? Can't remember now.

Yes.  Finding of Not Criminally Responsible by reason of Mental Defect (NCRMD to those of us in the biz).

Presumably, if they cure his "mental defect" or control it with drugs, he could walk free ... ? Not sure how this works. I assume he has to go before some sort of formal assessment.

Yeah.  Vince Li (the guy's name) was sent to a forensic psychiatric hospital in Manitoba, where he remains to this day.  He was suffering from severe untreated schizophrenia and has responded very well to treatment (and feels horrified about what happened).  As I said, but for the high profile of the case he probably would have been released by now.

[OttoVonBismarck]

People are never that comfortable with the real psych cases. Around here a guy about 15 years ago walked into a fast food place where two teenagers were working, and stabbed them to death. When they police arrived he was incoherent and after lengthy evaluations it was pretty much determined he was completely psychotic and had no concept of what he was doing. So he was not found guilty and was diverted to the mental health system. A few years later some locals saw him out at a local place getting ice cream or something, he was out on supervised day release (where basically you can go into town, but you have a keeper that's with you the whole time) and the local community was outraged. But really, if the guy legitimately had no concept of right and wrong (as a court and medical experts found), and his doctors feel he's safe to be on supervised day release I don't really see where the outrage is. The whole point of recognizing diminished or lack of capacity for such things is to not punish someone for something they lacked the faculties to really make a decision about.

Reagan's would be assassin was widely considered well enough to be released but for the fact he had shot a President. Although all the experts approved him being released into his parents custody for brief outings in 1999, and longer weekend furloughs a few years later (around the time Reagan died, coincidentally), he actually snuck some photos or something of Jodie Foster back into the hospital with him after one of those trips suggesting he probably wasn't quite as well adjusted as his doctors claimed. But a few years after that I think he's now basically a "half time" mental patient who gets like 120 days a year out of the hospital and even has a driver's license.