The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday ordered the Alberta Court of Appeal to review the sentences it imposed on Jason Klaus and Joshua Frank. In 2018, the two men were convicted of three first-degree murders committed five years ago in Castor, near Red Deer.
In a decision released in February 2021, the Alberta Court of Appeal commuted the sentence of life imprisonment without parole to 25 years imposed by the trial court on the two men. The Court of Appeal ruled that a minimum period of detention of 25 years had to be served consecutively. As a result of this decision, defendants must serve a total of 50 years before they can apply for parole. Jason Klaus and Joshua Frank were 92 and 82, respectively.
“Jurisprudence” Alexandre Bissonnette
The unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in this case follows its decision at the end of May 2022 in the case of Alexandre Bissonnette, the perpetrator of the attack on a Quebec mosque in 2017 that claimed the lives of six people.
The highest court in the country has ruled that the latter can apply for parole after 25 years instead of the 40 years originally planned.
The Supreme Court of Canada thus repealed the provision of the Criminal Code, adopted by the Harper government in 2011, which allows for the addition of the minimum period of detention in the case of multiple murders.
On the basis of this preliminary the Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday ordered the Alberta Court of Appeal to face the convictions of Jason Klaus and Joshua Frank. accordingly in its recent decision in the case of Alexandre Bissonnette.
A triple murder
In 2018 Jason Klaus and Joshua Frank were convicted of first -degree murder of Jason Klaus ’father, mother and brother. Gordon, Sandra and Monica Klaus were shot and killed while they were sleeping at their residence on a farm in Castor, Alberta. The two men then burned the farm to destroy anything that could be evidence.
In Calgary’s response to the Supreme Court’s decision, Andrea Urquhart, Joshua Frank’s attorney, said it means the original sentence should be returned to 25 years before possible parole instead of 50. years.
Similar cases are pending
Two other cases in which Alberta inmates received consecutive minimum periods of detention: those of Derek Saretzky and Edward Downey. The two men are appealing their sentences and the hearings of their cases have been suspended pending the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of Alexandre Bissonnette.
In 2015, Derek Saretzky was convicted of first-degree murders of Terry Blanchette, his two-year-old daughter, Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, and his neighbor, Hanne Meketech, in Blairmore, Alberta. He was sentenced to life with no possibility of parole for 75 years. Sentenced to 22 years old, he could not apply for parole until he was 97 years old.
His judgment appeal is scheduled for June 21, his attorney said.
As for Edward Downey, he was convicted of first-degree murder of Sara Baillie and her five-year-old daughter, Taliyah Marsman, in 2016. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole before the age of 50. .
University of Calgary law professor Lisa Silver, however, said the Supreme Court decision does not automatically apply to all cases because, she explains, some court decisions can be found unconstitutional in some cases and not in others. The nation’s highest court indicated that prisoners who have received a sentence under the law allowing the addition of the minimum period of detention can apply under the Charter.
It’s not automatic, he says. they [les défendeurs] need to ask and argue.
With information from The Canadian Press
Radio Canada
Source: Radio-Canada
