Crown recognizes that sentence of N.B. man who killed 3 Mounties should be reduced

Crown prosecutors say they recognize that a New Brunswick man who fatally shot three Mounties eight years ago may be eligible for parole in 25 years.

Prosecutor Patrick McGuinty made the comment in a written submission dated Jan. 20 to the New Brunswick Court of Appeal regarding the case of Justin Bourque, who in 2014 was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 75 years.

Bourque’s lawyer applied to the province’s highest court in December to have the precedent-setting sentence drastically reduced, after the country’s highest court ruled last May that convicted killers can’t be ineligible for parole beyond 25 years.

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The Supreme Court’s decision involved the case of Alexandre Bissonnette, the gunman who murdered six men in a Quebec City mosque in 2017.

Bissonnette was originally sentenced to life without parole for 40 years, but the high court said the law must revert to the way it was before 2011, and it reduced the killer’s parole ineligibility period to 25 years.

2:12 Supreme Court of Canada rules life without parole cruel and illegal

McGuinty says Bourque’s sentence should be similarly amended.

Bourque’s case was on the Appeal Court docket today but no oral hearing was held and no decision was released.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2023.