Court releases reasoning for upholding murder convictions in Meika’s death
The series of “cruel, degrading” and “deliberately harmful” punishments six-year-old Meika Jordan endured in the days before her death justified the first-degree murder convictions of her father and stepmother, the Supreme Court of Canada says in an explanation of its decision.
Last November, the nine-member Supreme Court panel upheld the convictions of Spencer Jordan and Marie Magoon in the beating death of Meika six years earlier. The country’s highest court released the reasons for its decision Friday.
Lawyers for the couple argued last fall to overturn an Alberta Court of Appeal decision that upgraded Jordan and Magoon’s original second-degree murder convictions after determining the little girl had been confined prior to her death, a stipulation that upgrades the severity of a murder offence.
At trial, court heard Meika was beaten, burned and tortured during a weekend stay at the home of Jordan and Magoon.
She died Nov. 14, a day after paramedics found her unconscious.
In confirming Meika was unlawfully confined, the Supreme Court justices stated such a finding does not require evidence of a child being physically bound or locked up. Unlawful confinement can also result from evidence of controlling conduct, the panel stated.
“The acts of ‘discipline’ were grossly disproportionate, cruel, degrading, deliberately harmful, and far exceeded any acceptable form of parenting,” the court wrote in its reasons.
The top court said while parents are entitled to restrict the liberty of their children, that right is not without limits.
“In short, disciplining a child by restricting his or her ability to move about freely ( by physical or psychological means), contrary to the child’s wishes, which exceeds the outer bounds of punishment that a parent or guardian could lawfully administer, constitutes unlawful confinement,” the decision reads.
Jordan and Magoon are not eligible to apply for parole for 25 years.
Their original second-degree murder convictions allowed for a parole request after 17 years.