MAN WHO KILLED OFF-DUTY COP GETS 13 YEARS.
Halifax man who killed off-duty cop to serve at least 13.5 years in prison
A Halifax man convicted of strangling an off-duty police officer and using a compost bin to dispose of her body has been sentenced to at least 13.5 years in prison, less time served. Christopher Garnier was convicted in December of second-degree murder and interfering with a dead body in the September 2015 death of 36-year-old Catherine Campbell. The conviction carries an automatic life sentence, but a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge decided Tuesday that Garnier will be able to apply for parole after serving 13.5 years - less 699 days for time served. Garnier showed no emotion as the decision was read. He had met Campbell for the first time that night at a downtown Halifax bar, and hours later she was dead in a north end apartment. “On Sept. 11, 2015, as shown on the surveillance video from the Alehouse, Catherine Campbell was expecting romance and affection on the evening she was murdered. She was vulnerable,” said Justice Joshua Arnold. “For reasons unknown, Mr. Garnier punched her in the face, broke her nose, strangled her to death, and then, in an effort to hide his crime, treated her remains like garbage.” Arnold noted that Dr. Matthew Bowes, Nova Scotia’s chief medical examiner, had told the jury it would take between two and six minutes to cause death by strangulation. “Therefore, Ms. Campbell’s death was not akin to a single punch that results in death, a quick squeeze of a trigger, or even the quick stroke of a knife,” he said. “Mr. Garnier intentionally squeezed the life out of Ms. Campbell over a number of minutes, and such action was not merely a split-second lapse of self-control.” The judge noted that Campbell was a trained police officer, and women with less self-defence training would be “deeply troubled by this crime.” The Crown had argued Monday that Garnier should serve 16 years before he’s able to apply for parole, while the defence argued Garnier should become eligible for parole after serving 10 years.