Supreme Court decision could affect Justin Bourque’s sentence: Lawyer

The lawyer who represented a man who murdered three RCMP officers nearly eight years ago in Moncton, N.B., said Friday’s Supreme Court decision, striking down consecutive periods of parole ineligibility in cases of multiple first degree murders, may potentially change his sentence.

On June 4, 2014, Justin Bourque shot and killed Codiac RCMP constables Dave Ross, Fabrice Gevaudan, and Doug Larche in a Moncton shooting rampage that led to a 28-hour manhunt before being captured. Constables Eric Dubois and Darlene Goguen were also injured in the shootings.

Bourque was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced later that year to serve 75 years in prison before parole eligibility.

The sentence was possible due to a 2011 amendment to Canada’s Criminal Code allowing consecutive 25-year parole ineligibility periods to be imposed in cases of mass murderers.

Lawyer David Lutz, who represented Bourque in the 2014 trial, said Friday’s Supreme Court decision supported “the idea of rehabilitation.”

Lutz told CTV Atlantic he planned to speak with Bourque as soon as he was able to.

“I can only tell him about the decision and tell him my expectation of what’s going to happen, and once again be patient,” said Lutz. “I think it will be on a case-by-case basis. But I think overall, the fact that the law was declared invalid, it’s not like they’re getting a pardon. It’s just they now have a faint hope that they will be able to rehabilitate themselves, that after 25 years they can rejoin society.”

Lutz said he expected the Supreme Court decision to be unpopular with many in the general public, adding it could push the federal government to create new laws in the form of crime prevention.

“This decision, I believe, if followed through all the way will make us safe,” said Lutz. “I would bet two to one that before five o’clock today, Justin Trudeau is going to sit down with the Minister of Justice Lametti and say, ‘Get a move on, get a move on collecting these AK-47’s and AR-15’s, we got to get them off the street before the next multiple murder,’ because of this decision.”

In an interview Friday with CTV’s Question Period, Justice Minister David Lametti said he supported judges having discretion in handing down sentences they felt were appropriate.

“Does that mean I’m always in favour of consecutive sentences? No,” said Lametti. “But I do want the judge to have that kind of discretion in cases where it’s necessary. We’ll go back and look at this and look at it carefully and see if there’s a path forward.”