Calgary killer gets 75 years without parole

CALGARY— Triple murderer Douglas Garland will spend the rest of his life in prison for a crime the judge says was carried out with meticulous planning and precision.

Justice David Gates on Friday imposed a sentence on Garland that prevents the 57-year-old from seeking parole for at least 75 years from the time of his arrest, meaning he would have to live to the age of 129.

Gates said Garland’s degree of moral blameworthiness in the deaths of Alvin and Kathy Liknes and their grandson Nathan O’Brien in June 2014 is very high.

Garland simply said “no” when asked if he had anything to say in court.

Gates said he accepted the Crown’s theory that the Likneses and 5-yearold Nathan were still alive after Garland attacked them at the couple’s Calgary home.

He then took them in the back of his pickup truck to his farm where he killed and dismembered them and burned their bodies.

The judge said the usual automatic life sentence with a minimum of 25 years before parole eligibility needed to be increased because of aggravating factors that included Nathan’s young age and Garland not expressing remorse or regret.