January 18, 2001 - Robert Latimer - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Supreme Court upholds Robert Latimer’s 10-year sentence for murdering daughter Tracy. When Robert Latimer killed his daughter on October 24, 1993, some called him compassionate while others called him a murderer. Tracy Latimer was 12 years old at the time of her death. Due to a lifetime of severe cerebral palsy, she weighed 40 pounds, was a quadriplegic, had the mental capacity of a four-month-old baby and was unable to walk, talk or feed herself. Her mother and father witnessed her five to six seizures a day and felt she endured excruciating pain. Doctors suggested surgery to allow for tube feeding and perhaps better management of her pain, but the Latimers refused, thinking of this as mutilation and the continuity of her suffering. Latimer, a Saskatchewan farmer, placed his daughter in their pickup truck and ran a hose from the exhaust pipe into the cab. Initially, Latimer told authorities Tracy had passed away in her sleep, but he later confessed to his actions. He was convicted of second-degree murder but the Supreme Court of Canada ordered a second trial when they discovered the prosecution had interfered in the jury selection. In late 1997, a second jury came down with the same conviction, but recommended parole after just one year in prison. Judge Ted Noble gave Latimer a “constitutional exemption” of a sentence of less than two years, one of those years to be served in the community. On January 18, 2001 the Supreme Court of Canada rejected his shortened sentence, ordering Latimer to serve the full 10-year minimum before being eligible for parole. The court said murder was not his only option. Any consideration of mercy was left up to Parliament, not the courts. Latimer will be eligible for day parole in 2007 and full parole in December 2010.

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