Sentencing rules were changed under the Harper Conservatives in 2011 with a new provision of the Criminal Code that allowed judges the discretion to hand out consecutive parole ineligibility periods to multiple murderers.
The Supreme Court has called that provision unconstitutional and said those punishments "bring the administration of justice into disrepute" and are "cruel and unusual by nature."…..
…..It's less clear what will happen to offenders whose sentence appeals have already been argued.
Garland killed five-year-old Nathan O'Brien and his grandparents Alvin and Kathy Liknes in Calgary in 2014.
Garland was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and handed a life sentence with no chance of parole for 75 years, which was upheld by the Alberta Court of Appeal.
For Garland and others — like
Travis Baumgartner, as well as
Jason Klaus and Joshua Frank— their sentence appeals have either been argued and ruled on or the timeline to appeal has expired.
"I think their chances are very dim because unless the case is in the system, they're going to have a very difficult time getting any relief," said Alias Sanders, one of the most experienced appeal lawyers in Alberta.
"At the time they were sentenced, the legislation hadn't been declared unconstitutional."…..”
