Maximum sentence urged for LRT killer

Life term would be cruel, unusual punishment, defence argues

One after another, the family members of a man murdered on an LRT car in 2012 called for a judge to sentence his killer to the maximum possible penalty.

Jeremy Newborn is challenging the constitutionality of a mandatory life sentence for his seconddegree murder conviction in the death of John Hollar.

Hollar, 29, died in late December 2012, two days after Newborn chased him through an LRT car, beating him and stomping on his head. Hollar’s family delivered tearful victim impact statements Tuesday, calling for Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Brian Burrows to sentence Newborn to life in prison with a lengthy term of parole ineligibility.

His sister, Amber Hollar, asked Newborn who he thought he was, to do such a thing to another human being, and described getting on the LRT after her brother’s death only to notice the car number and realizing it was the same one where the attack happened.

“I was standing in the very spot where my brother had laid,” she said as other family members cried in the courtroom gallery.

His other sister, Aleshia Hollar, described laying her head on her brother’s chest as she listened to his last breaths after he was taken off life support.

“I counted the seconds in between each gasp,” she said.

She termed Newborn’s behaviour that of “a monster.”

A second-degree murder conviction in Canada comes with a mandatory life sentence, with parole eligibility set at between 10 and 25 years.

On Monday, defence lawyer Simon Renouf argued that his client’s cognitive impairments are such that a life sentence would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, violating his Charter rights.

But Crown prosecutor John Watson countered Tuesday that Newborn’s cognitive challenges were born of his own decision to use illicit drugs and make poor choices.

“It’s an appropriate punishment for those who commit the most serious of crimes, and our courts have the capacity of dealing with moral blameworthiness in parole,” Watson said.

He called him a “violent criminal” with a lengthy record.

Reports on Newborn’s background entered as exhibits lay out his difficult past, with reports of abuse and addictions.

Newborn told one of the report authors he started drinking at age nine.

But the reports also show that despite his intellectual challenges and home life, he was able to hold various jobs before becoming mired in illicit drug use.

“Will his rehabilitation be difficult? Probably so. But that’s not grounds for keeping him out of prison,” Watson argued.

If Newborn fails in his Charter application, Watson argued his parole eligibility should be set between 16 and 18 years. But if Newborn succeeds, Watson said he still believes the judge should impose a life sentence, but with a parole eligibility of 10 years.

Renouf said if his application fails, parole eligibility should be set at 10 years.

On Monday, he suggested a sentence of nine years to be followed by parole if the Charter challenge is successful.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Brian Burrows reserved his decision until Jan. 19, and ordered Newborn to be held at the Edmonton Remand Centre in the meantime, rather than Alberta Hospital where he awaited the Charter challenge on a judge’s order.