Even murderers have rights, says mosque killer’s lawyer
QUEBEC Murderers, even multiple murderers like Alexandre Bissonnette, have rights and can be rehabilitated, the Quebec City mosque killer’s lawyer argued Wednesday.
And it would contravene the Charter of Rights — and Canadian values — to impose the legally allowed maximum sentence on Bissonnette, defence lawyer Charles-Olivier Gosselin said.
That would be life in prison without the possibility of parole for 150 years (six consecutive 25-year sentences).
Gosselin made the arguments as he contested the constitutionality of consecutive sentences before Quebec Superior Court Justice François Huot, who will decide Bissonnette’s sentence.
Gosselin told Huot consecutive sentences were introduced because of “penal populism” — an effort to win political points by whipping up fears of a problem that doesn’t exist.
Such sentences contravene Section 12 of the Charter, which reads: “Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment,” Gosselin said.
And he contended that, by removing any hope of release from prison, consecutive sentences contravene a section of the Charter that protects the right to “security of the person.”
Bissonnette, 28, killed six Muslim men in a Quebec City mosque in January 2017. He pleaded guilty to six first-degree murder charges and six counts of attempted murder.
The Crown is recommending a 150-year sentence, while Bissonnette’s lawyers are suggesting life in prison without parole eligibility for 25 years.
Ottawa changed the Criminal Code in 2011 to allow for consecutive sentences in multiple-murder cases, as opposed to concurrent sentences. Whether to apply consecutive sentences is left to the discretion of judges.
Gosselin described the change, approved under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, as “penal populism” that played on unwarranted fears that such killers as Clifford Olson, who confessed to murdering 11 children, would get parole.
He noted Canada’s homicide rate was already dropping at the time, and Canada’s parole system was in place to keep dangerous prisoners incarcerated.
“Few people stand up to defend murderers, to say even murderers have rights,” Gosselin said. “But the Supreme Court has said that even murderers have rights.”
He said consecutive sentences that result in someone dying in prison before being eligible for parole removes a prisoner’s hope and makes it difficult to rehabilitate them.
“Without hope, what is the sense of a life, other than to do your time?” Gosselin said.
Parole isn’t automatic for killers who, for example, are sentenced to life in prison with no parole possibility for 25 years. On average, offenders given such sentences leave prison after 28.4 years, Gosselin noted.
Prisoners apply to the Parole Board, which must assess whether or not they present “an undue risk to society.”
“The parole system works” and should be relied upon to determine whether a multiple murderer should be allowed out of prison, Gosselin said, adding that paroled murderers have a “very low” recidivism rate.
As he arrived in the glass-walled prisoner’s box Wednesday, Bissonnette, wearing a dark sweater and dark Puma-brand sweatpants, gave a broad smile to his parents.
Bissonnette told his lawyer he wanted to take notes. The judge allowed the murderer’s handcuffs to be replaced by ankle shackles. He was given a yellow notepad and a pen, and could be seen taking notes as his lawyer spoke.
On Thursday, the final day of a four-week sentencing hearing, the Quebec’s Attorney General’s office is scheduled to argue that consecutive sentences are “constitutionally valid.”
In a 54-page document outlining his arguments, Jean-François Paré, a lawyer with Quebec’s Attorney General, wrote that consecutive sentences are not “arbitrary, excessive or totally disproportionate.”
“It is important to remember that ... the Criminal Code preserves the trial judge’s discretion in sentencing an offender who has committed multiple murders,” the document states.
The Attorney General’s office cited 16 cases in which judges have had to consider consecutive sentences since 2011. Of those, 12 resulted in consecutive terms.
In five cases, judges handed down sentences of life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 75 years.
Huot, who is to hand down his sentence is September, has said it is “probable” that Bissonnette will receive consecutive sentences. If Bissonnette gets 150 years, it would be the most severe sentence since Canada abolished the death penalty.