Canadian who killed his disabled daughter released on parole

Robert Latimer, a Saskatchewan farmer, had been sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole for the first 10 years of his sentence but was granted day parole on Feb. 27, after only seven years in prison, The Globe and Mail reported Feb. 28. Latimer admitted to killing his 12-year-old daughter, Tracy, who had severe cerebral palsy, in 1993 and said he did it out of love to spare her further pain.

The Globe and Mail reported that the appeals division of the National Parole Board rejected the board's Dec. 5 decision, which denied Mr. Latimer's parole. The appeal division said the Dec. 5 decision was "unreasonable and unsupported."

Canadian disability advocates were upset by the parole decision. "We're very disappointed," Marie White, chairwoman of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, said in The Globe and Mail. "It sends a dangerous message, that it's okay, it's different, if you murder someone who has a disability."

Latimer maintains that he has no guilt from his actions. He said in December: "It was the right thing to do. ... The laws were not as important as Tracy was."

The case has been heatedly debated all over Canada, with some Canadians siding with Latimer's contention that it was a "mercy killing," and advocacy groups for disabled people saying it was the outright murder of a child with a disability.

Initially, the Canadian courts seemed to be on the side of disability groups, when they overturned a jury recommendation that Latimer serve a year in jail and another under house arrest. Instead, the Supreme Court of Canada gave Latimer the mandatory minimum sentence for second-degree murder, life in prison with chance of parole in 10 years.

The Globe and Mail stories about the case seem to be Latimer's side, often referring to Tracy Latimer's "acute pain," "contorted body," "multiple operations" and that her future held "more of the same." And many readers (156 so far at 6: 30 p.m. EST on Feb. 28) seemed to support Latimer's release in their online comments to the stories.

I personally don't support the murder of anyone, even under the guise of "mercy killing." In my opinion, a truly loving father would have moved heaven and earth to find the best medical professionals who could have assisted Tracy to have the best quality of life available to her.