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Robert Latimer
Supreme Court
Rules Against him
Latimer abandons clemency application
Janice Tibbetts, CanWest
News Service, January 27, 2004
OTTAWA -- Three years after
Robert Latimer drove himself to prison, he has given up on the
prospect of asking the federal government for mercy.
Former Saskatchewan premier
Allan Blakeney, a leading Canadian civil libertarian, says he
saw a recent "communication" from the Saskatchewan
farmer indicating he still believes it is up to the courts, not
the government, to ease his life sentence for killing his severely
disabled daughter.
"He has formed the conclusion
that the politicians were part of his trouble and he doesn't
want to apply to them for further action," Blakeney, past
president of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and a champion
of Latimer's cause, said in an interview.
"That is not a very helpful
position on his part, or on the part of his wife or children,
but I think that is the current state of affairs."
It was three years ago this
month that the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously decreed that
life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 10 years, the
minimum mandatory sentence for second-degree murder, is not "grossly
disproportionate" considering the gravity of Latimer's crime.
Latimer, who was recently transferred
from the medium-security Bowden Institution in Alberta to the
minimum security William Head Institution near Victoria, still
thinks the court should correct its decision, said Blakeney.
"That is, of course, not
how the system works," Blakeney said. "The court has
acted, the court has no further function."
Tracy Latimer, a quadriplegic
with severe cerebral palsy, was 12 years old when her father
killed her by piping carbon monoxide into the cab of his pickup
truck on an October morning in 1993.
The Supreme Court, in its January
2001 ruling, rejected Latimer's request for a new trial to use
the rare defence of necessity, which can clear a killer if it
is proven he had no choice.
He also failed in his argument
that he should be absolved of the minimum mandatory sentence
for his crime on the grounds that it was cruel and unusual punishment.
The court hinted at the time
that the federal government, if it felt sympathetic to Latimer,
could exercise the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, a rarely used
Criminal Code remedy.
Latimer's lawyers said at the
time that he would apply for clemency after serving a year of
his sentence, but his application to the federal government was
repeatedly put on hold and now appears to have been abandoned
entirely.
While opinion surveys have
shown that the majority of the Canadian public is on his side,
advocates for the disabled have fought Latimer every step of
the way.
Three years after his imprisonment,
letters to the editor in Canada's newspapers have dwindled but
not died. In recent letters, supporters have urged the government
to grant Latimer clemency with or without his application.
But a spokesperson for the
National Parole Board said that the government cannot act without
Latimer's request.
The Royal Prerogative of Mercy
allows the federal cabinet to grant clemency to convicted offenders
"where there is compelling evidence of injustice or hardship
for which there is no other remedy," says the Justice Department's
website.
Possible remedies include a
conditional pardon; a reduced, suspended or commuted sentence;
or a new trial.
© Copyright 2004 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Latimer
battles to change justice system
SASK.CBC.CA, Dec 17 2003
REGINA -The man convicted of
killing his severely disabled daughter won't apply for clemency
unless the justice system admits it made a mistake.
Robert Latimer is the Saskatchewan
farmer who killed his daughter Tracy in 1993. His daughter had
cerebral palsy and Latimer argued that it was a merciful death.
The case sparked a national
debate on mercy killing.
CBC.ca BACKGROUNDER: "Cruel &
unusual" : The law and Latimer (opens a new browser window)
Latimer was sentenced to life in prison without a chance of parole
for ten years. He is being held in a minimum security facility
on Vancouver Island.
He is taking an electronics
course, goes for walks on the prison grounds and works on his
case.
Latimer has gathered a 200-page
volume explaining how he thinks the justice system made a mistake
by convicting him. Latimer says he did the right thing by ending
his daughter's life and the courts refuse to understand the problems
Tracy was facing.
"I know her death was
the right thing to do," he says, "I mean, it was pointless
to start mutilating and force-feeding her and things like that.
What I did was right, and a jury should have an opportunity to
decide whether that was right or wrong, and obviously this isn't
a country that can tolerate something like that."
Latimer challenges the notion
that his daughter's pain could have been managed by surgery or
drugs. He says there was no clear-cut evidence to support that.
He says he has tried in vain
to show the courts their mistake. He says they must change their
view because he won't change from his position.
"They have to come clean
with this decision," he says, "and admit its a bogus
decision. But, that's probably not going to happen. It's a dead
end dealing with these people, so you just have to sit it out."
Latimer says he still receives
many letters of support from Canadians and calls them "thinking
people." He says those letters and help are appreciated.
Latimer is eligible for day
parole in 2007.
Copyright © 2003 Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
Robert Latimer:
another Saskatchewan travesty
 Saskatchewan defence
lawyers and conviction greedy prosecutors conspired to put in
prison for ten years a man who would have been free for the last
year and a half if there was any sense of justice in Saskatchewan.
Defence lawyers
hoped to set ground-breaking law during a time of general backlash
against euthnasia; prosecutors used Latimer's honesty against
him and took his confession to use as evidence on a charge too
high. Randy Kirkham went so far as to jury tamper. Still the
crown proceeded to get its conviction on the higher charge knowing
the law allows no latitude on the sentence for such a conviction.
A family has
been ripped to pieces and thousands of people want this set right.
The law has
utterly failed the Latimers.
Tracy Latimer's
condition
Hi,
In response to numerous requests
for information about Tracy Latimer's condition we have excerpted
the Testimony of The Orthopedic doctor who testified at Robert
Latimer's first trial. Please visit http://www.robertlatimer.ca
. This information is a matter of public record . It provides
only the briefest of glimpses of what it must have been like
for the family and for Tracy as seen through the impersonal eyes
of her doctor. In it the doctor states what Tracy's condition
was, how badly it had deteriorated and how well she was cared
for and loved. Many critics have publicly given the impression
that in the last weeks and months of her life that Tracy was
a happy, smiling, communicative little girl whose life was snatched
away by a man concerned only for his own troubles. The doctor's
Testimony however clinical, paints a vastly different picture.
When people say. "Tracy's
condition wasn't that bad" ask them to picture a tiny 13
year old (she weighed 38 pounds when she died) crumpled body
, wracked with incredible, unyielding pain (according to her
Doctor), torn apart by muscular contractions, convulsed with
seizures, held rigid by steel bars fused to her spine, her skin
rubbed away on one side of her body, with no control of her bodily
functions, and no understanding of what was happening to her
and why, not able to tolerate the level of pain medicine needed
to bring relief, and starving to death despite the best efforts
of her mother and father.
Then ask them if they could
turn away.
I am a man. Men are supposed
to be able to fix things, to solve problems and make things better.
We are raised that way. WE are told that all our lives in many
different ways and we come to believe it. When our children hurt
themselves we say, "there....there daddy will make it better".
Robert Latimer could not fix things, could not kiss away the
hurt, could not enfold his little girl in his arms and make it
better. Robert Latimer's defense of his actions is simple. Necessity.
He honestly believes that he, as a man, as her dad could, only
"fix this thing" by ending her suffering, ending her
pain.
My God, I hope I never have
to face that kind of decision.
Please feel free to forward
this note to anyone and everyone.
Jamie Basset
Jan.18, 2001: The Supreme Court
of Canada unanimously upheld Robert Latimer's conviction and
sentence. Although it is usual for the defendant in such a situation
to be in custody at the time of the decision, the Saskatchewan
farmer was allowed to remain on his Wilkie farm until the last
minute. Latimer will not be eligible for parole for ten years.
The only remedy left to Robert Latimer is a parliamentary intervention.
Many people, including injusticebusters believe that Latimer was wrongly charged.
If he had been charged with manslaughter, his sentence could
have been much more lenient. Cold-blooded killers in Saskatchewan
have served far less time than Robert Latimer is now expected
to serve. Robert Latimer is not a cold-blooded murderer from
whom the public needs protection. If his present sentence stands,
he will spend more time in prison than Karla Homulka.
Some members
of the organized disabled community are cheering this decision.
They say that if Latimer is allowed to go free, somehow their
own lives will be in danger because it will signal that disabled
persons will be fair game for people who find caring for them
inconvenient to legally kill tham. This skewed thinking is typical
of the mean-spiritedness so rampant in this country.
At a press
conference at his farm before driving to Saskatoon to meet with
his lawyer, Mark Brayford, Latimer said that Tracy's birth was
difficult: she was denied oxygen through less than excellent
medical care, and that it was during that time "we lost
Tracy." The ordeal of living in a body with an oxygen-deprived
brain, muscle seizures from her cerebral palsy and, in the final
months a permanently dislocated hip which could not be fixed
all followed from the initial botched delivery. The system was
now protecting itself for having failed Tracy Latimer in the
first place. "That is a system which promotes torture, mutilation
and forced-feeding."
Many of us just wished he had
done it all some other way so that we wouldn't have to confront
the moral dilemma he placed before us. But no. Robert Latimer
did what he did. He did not deny what he did. His first trial
ended with a guilty verdict and a Crown prosecutor, Randy
Kirkham, charged with jury tampering.
On the topic of jury nullification,
see this precedent
set by the Brothers of the Church of the Universe.
How and where to send support
- Contact the Minister
of Justice Phone: (613) 957-4222 | Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson Phone: (613) 993-8200
Toll-free: 1-800-465-6890| P.M. Jean
Chretien Send electronic correspondence to the Solicitor
General of Canada or the Department Phone: (613) 991-3283
| Canada Site: Find
your MP using your area code.
- National Parole Board and
Communications Division: (613) 954-6549
- Elena Montes Forum: (From CBC Message Board)
Some of you may have been watching
the news when there was a story on a Saskatchewan couple who
have already collected 17,000 signatures on a petition requesting
the government to reduce Mr. Latimer's sentence. They are seeking
our support in the form of additional signatures on the petition.
I have received their consent
to post their phone number & e-mail address on this site:
Jamie
Bassett, Christopher
Lake, Sask. Phone: 306-982-4546
Bon Soir from the prairies,
Please forward me your mailing
address and telephone number. I will e-mail you a copy of the
petition early this week. The CCLA Canadian Civil Liberties Association
are vetting the document through their lawyer this weekend and
e-mailing it to me on Monday. I hope you can collect additional
signatures in your community. I will send instructions on returning
it.
Thanks for your interest and
help
Jamie and Janet Bassett
Robert Latimer Begins 10 Year Sentence:
|
Robert Latimer: nobody wins
but the lawyers
posted November, 1998
Robert Latimer, seen
here surrendering to the RCMP after the Saskatchewan Court of
Appeals overturned his light sentence to mandatory life imprisonment,
should hate lawyers as much as we do. The Crown did not charge
him properly. The right charge was manslaughter. But the Crown
lawyers have their own agenda which generally involves overcharging.
Mark Brayford would seem to have his agenda as well. That would
seem to be playing high risk poker with a controversial issue
in hopes that he will be responsible for ground-breaking legislation.
It is considered unseemly to
talk of money but whether or not Latimer ends up serving his
ten years without parole, it seems likely Brayford will get a
piece of the farm.
And what of Randy
Kirkham, the original Crown lawyer who was not content to
overcharge Robert Latimer but thought he could tip the scales
of justice by going beyond the rules of jury selection? He got
a lengthy holiday with full pay!
|
injusticebusters' hearts go out to Robert
Latimer, his wife and children. Their private grief over Tracy
will no doubt be sullied for some more months as this case proceeds
to the highest Court in our land.
We wish them well.
Update: Jan.
18, 2001: As Latimer goes
off to prison for ten years, he must be very sorry that Brayford
did not more vigorously work to get his charge reduced to manslaughter.
We suggested two years ago
that Brayford was playing high stakes poker by going all out
with a murder defence and it looks like we could have been right.
Otherwise the Supreme Court would have had the option of acquittal
so the Crown could properly recharge him. This option would not
exist if it had already been offered and turned down. We said
before that Brayford would get a piece of the farm. It now appears
he will get the whole thing.
This is one more shameful Saskatchewan
situation. Robert Latimer should be back on the farm where he
belongs. The Supreme Court has suggested Latimer apply to Parliament
for a pardon.
|
Letters
to Latimer sent to injusticebusters
- Subject: injustice Date: Fri, 19 Jan
2001 00:58:11 -0500
- From: Nonie Crete To: injusticebusters@shaw.ca
Ok, this is my first letter
of support and I shall find everywhere to say this. I'm not the
smartest person in the world with all the answers, but I'm intuitive,
maternal, spiritual and human. I saw and felt each of these attributes
in Robert. Just a father who couldn't stand to see someone he
inately loves- suffer anymore. Robert, you are reaching out to
everyone of us. I worked twenty years with elderly and disabled
and everyone, every single resident was unique in their disability.
I saw folks that were one hundred years old with a sparkle in
their eye and a glowing spirit. I saw people in the fifties to
nineties with dead eyes, suffering souls and wounded people that
I felt nothing but compassion for. Who says that this world is
the end all be all, it's only but a test. I tended people who
has decubitus ulcers so big and growing and the treatment was
cruel and necessary, without much pain management and compassion
for the resident who couldn't speak for themselves. The resident
would look at me with such pleading eyes for their pain and looking
for someone to help them with the pain and outcome. I felt such
pain when I delivered my children and I thought it could not
be surpassed, but I'm mistaken, mine was temporary but not Tracy
or Robert and their family. Listening to someone you love suffer-
without hope or relief, is tortureous. I'm a mother of two healthy
children, easy decision to leave things as they are, but my children,
had they have been born with a painful, no hope for cure, and
worsening disease, I might love them just enough to end their
pain. Years of watching someone you love more than yourself in
pain-I'm glad God saw a wonderful man like Robert Latimer strong
enough to teach us ultimate love, I'm not sure I could. God Bless
you Robert. Write books and read, you are very special, nonie
crete
- Subject: Robert Latimer. Date: Fri,
19 Jan 2001 03:21:23 -0600
- From: dave
kohlenberg <> To: injusticebusters@shaw.ca
Sirs/madams:
This took an hour to find your
site using various search engines. Dogpile.com, after searching
Alltheweb.com, Canoe.com. Canada.com. but Arfie found you.
There is an easy support site
available for those who support a more stringent treatment of
Mr. Robert Latimer. Could you suggest any sites that are available
supporting a more leanient treatment of Mr. Latimer?
In short, my whole family,
born and raised on the farm, run through the ravages of the frontlines
in the second world war, support a more lenient disposition of
the case against Mr Latimer. We as one feel that the minmum sentence
of ten years is excessive. As suggested by a news site, when
a Karla Homolka can cut a deal and have statutory release in
seven years there is something wrong with this system when someone
with more compasionate circumstances gets a minimum of ten years.
People who have been born and
raised on a farm have a different perspective on how they treat
their fellow man, and how they treat fellow creatures for which
they are responsible. In a farm perspective compasion for an
animal extends with more force when one considers their compasion
for one's own family.
We hope that you can supply
some contacts so that we can give some numerical support at the
very least to Mr. Latimer's plight.
dave kohlenberg
This is a brief overview of the Latimer
case which began in 1993 and is not over yet.
Latimer Guilty: Minimum 10
Years In Jail For Second-Degree Murder
Saskatoon StarPhoenix November
12, 1994 By Warren Goulding
Battleford -- It was a verdict
that family members called yet another tragedy.
A jury has convicted Robert
Latimer, 41, of second-degree murder in the death of his 12-year
old daughter Tracy Lynn in October 1993.
The girl was born with cerebral palsy and was
in constant pain. Latimer admitted to police that he killed the
youngster to spare her the pain.
The six-woman, five-man jury
returned its verdict Wednesday afternoon after deliberating for
about four hours.
When the jury foreman announced
the verdict, Latimer turned to his wife, Laura, who was in tears.
The couple embraced and Latimer led his wife from the courtroom
to an adjoining room to await sentencing.
The penalty for second-degree
murder is a life sentence with a minimum of 10 years in prison
before becoming eligible for parole. The jury recommended to
Justice Ross Wimmer that Latimer be given the minimum sentence.
Wimmer agreed, adding, "there
is no joy in this for anyone."
 The
Queen's Bench justice rejected a motion by defence lawyer Mark
Brayford who had asked for lighter sentence under Section 12
of the Charter of Rights. The section allows a judge discretion
in sentencing if the punishment is deemed to be cruel and unusual.
Latimer spoke briefly before
he was sentenced.
"I still feel what I did
was right," he said in a clear voice. "I don't think
you people are being human."
After her husband had been
taken into custody, Laura gave an emotional condemnation of the
decision on the steps of the Battleford courthouse.
"When Tracy was a few
months old, she began having seizures every minute, every day
for months. Our already severely handicapped daughter became
more handicapped.
"That wasn't a crime,
was it?" she asked rhetorically.
"When she got older she
had surgery after surgery. They were possibly going to do surgery
where they were going to cut the top part of her leg off and
her leg would have been there forever floppy.
"That wouldn't be a crime,
would it?
"Tracy could have laid
there suffering for years and years and that wouldn't be a crime,"
Laura said.
"Now the justice system
can take my husband, a good and loving father, and take him and
put him through whatever hell they want to.
"Whatever hell they put
him through will not begin to match the hell our little girl
went through.
"The only thing that is
keeping Bob and I going is thinking about Tracy."
Family members, including a
half-brother and sisters who sat behind Latimer throughout the
two-week trial, were crushed by the verdict but vowed to continue
to support a brother who they feel did no wrong.
"Bob is at peace with
himself," said brother-in-law Frank Mosienko, who along
with his wife Marj had come from Ottawa to be with Latimer for
the trial.
Dale Donald, Latimer's oldest
half-brother, said he was disappointed with the outcome.
"It's unfortunate that
this couldn't have been handled in some other way."
Latimer guilty in daughter's
death
Les Perreaux The Saskatoon
Star-Phoenix, Thursday 6 November 1997
BATTLEFORD, Sask. -- Laura
Latimer burst from her seat yelling "No, no, no," and
slammed her hand against a rail in the courtroom where her husband
was found guilty yesterday of second-degree murder for killing
their disabled daughter.
As jurors filed into the courtroom
after only a few hours of deliberation, they refused to look
at Robert Latimer, turning their heads away from the prisoner's
box. When roll call was taken, several of their voices cracked.
When the verdict was read,
Mr. Latimer left the prisoner's box and embraced his wife, saying
"It's going to be OK. It's going to be OK."
Court of Queen's Bench Judge
Ted Noble told jurors he would have to impose a mandatory life
sentence on Mr. Latimer. Four of the jurors gasped and covered
their mouths with their hands. Judge Noble instructed them to
recommend a parole date of between 10 and 25 years and jurors
left the courtroom again to consider his request.
Shortly after they began deliberations
on the verdict yesterday, jurors asked the judge whether they
could recommend that Mr. Latimer be eligible for parole in fewer
than 10 years. The judge said no.
Mr. Latimer was released on
bail after defence lawyer Mark Brayford said he will ask for
a rarely used constitutional exemption to reduce the period before
he is eligible for parole, arguing that the punishment is cruel
and unusual. Judge Noble will hear that argument next week.
"There is a fairly substantial
legal argument to be made for it in this case," the judge
said. He is expected to reserve judgment on sentencing for several
weeks.
Robert and Laura Latimer left
the courthouse through the front door, but did not talk to reporters.
The jury began deliberations
yesterday afternoon following closing arguments from lawyers
and instructions from the judge.
Judge Noble told the jury it
must weigh the evidence presented by the Crown against the law,
which says Mr. Latimer is guilty of murder if he intentionally
killed his daughter with carbon monoxide Oct. 24, 1993. In his
final address, Mr. Brayford said Mr. Latimer had no choice but
to kill Tracy to alleviate her pain and suffering.
"Robert Latimer honestly
felt he had no options and that what he did was out of love.
He reasonably looked at the options and there was no other reasonable
option," Mr. Brayford said.
Judge Noble rejected the defence
of necessity in his instructions to the jury, saying Tracy's
death wasn't inevitable or unavoidable.
"There was no immediate
peril," he said. "He waited 12 days between deciding
and committing the act. One must ask how this situation could
be described as an emergency."
Jurors were left with two options:
to find Mr. Latimer guilty of second-degree murder or to acquit
him for killing his daughter.
Judge Noble eliminated manslaughter
because Mr. Latimer acted with intent. First-degree murder was
also not an option because Mr. Latimer was acquitted on that
charge when he was found guilty of second-degree murder in 1994.
The verdict was later overturned by the Supreme Court.
Judge Noble told jurors they
must convict Mr. Latimer of second-degree murder if they were
convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he intentionally caused
Tracy's death. But Judge Noble allowed jurors to consider Tracy's
condition.
"The defence's position
is that it is not so simple a matter. They have asked you to
consider all of the evidence and all of the factors. Their position
is that you must consider what Mr. Latimer did against the backdrop
of Tracy Latimer's condition and conclude it was not an act of
murder," he said. "You must follow your conscience."
In a dramatic and emotional
final address to the jurors earlier in the day, Crown prosecutor
Eric Neufeld said Mr. Latimer gave up hope when he killed Tracy.
He recalled the testimony of
Laura Latimer, who said she gave up hope after being told Tracy
would need her second serious operation in 14 months, this time
to remove part of her leg bone to try to reduce pain in her hip.
"That day, Mrs. Latimer
said she gave up. I submit you will find that Mr. Latimer gave
up too, but that can't be an excuse for this crime," Mr.
Neufeld said.
He said Tracy Latimer was a
human being and no less a human being because she was in pain.
Mr. Latimer's lawyer asked
the jurors to follow their consciences.
"You must render a verdict
you can be proud has done justice. This may be one of the most
important decisions you will ever make in your life."
"This trial is not about
the value of life. We're not here asking you to change the law
to allow mercy killing. You do not have the power to change the
law anyway," Mr. Brayford said.
Alberta Report gives the extreme view of the Latimer case which
has been cited by groups of disabled persons as evidence of a
genocidal plot against them.
ROBERT LATIMER APPEALING
-- SASK.
There have been further developments
in the case of Robert Latimer . . .Recall that a judge of the
Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench, after a second jury found
Latimer guilty of second degree, agreed with the contention that
a mandatory 10 year sentence would constitute "cruel and
unusual punishment." The judge granted a constitutional
exemption and imposed a sentence of two years' less a day, much
of which could be served at home. The Crown appealed and, in
November of 1998, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal oveturned
that sentence and replaced it with that provided by law for second-degree
murder: life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for 10
years. Mr. Latimer was taken into custody but subsequently released
on bail when his lawyer launched an appeal to the Supreme Court
of Canada. Because the decision of the appellate court was unanimous,
the case would not proceed to the next stage unless the Supreme
Court of Canada granted its permission (called leave to appeal),
which it did in the spring of 1999. So the case continues. From
Canadian Criminal
Justice website
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell