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What's worse than the Canadian Healthcare system?
Answer: Our justice system.
We leaned hard on him this time. 10 year minimum.
A man who murdered his best friend while serving a conditional sentence for a robbery bragged to police that he was "21-1 in court" because of the native diversion program, a judge heard yesterday.
Christopher Beausoleil was arrested by Toronto Police for drinking and breaching his curfew on Feb. 28, 2006, minutes after he plunged a knife into the heart of his "brother" Ryan Horlock, 21, at the St. Dennis Dr. apartment.
Justice Paul Rivard yesterday sentenced Beausoleil, 23, to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 10 years. A jury convicted him of second-degree murder Monday night.
Beausoleil was supposed to be under house arrest and sober for six months when police found him intoxicated in the hallway outside the murder scene. Police charged him with violating the conditional sentence he received in November 2005 for a convenience store robbery in June. His mood changed dramatically from calm and concerned to belligerent and aggressive once he realized he was returning to jail, court heard.
"He became angry once he was arrested ... he brags that he is 21-1 in court and Judge (Patrick) Sheppard won't do anything to him," said Crown attorney Mary Humphrey in her closing to the murder-trial jury. She urged the judge to deny Beausoleil a chance for parole for "the range of 15 years."
In the past five years, Beausoleil had 10 charges, one for a weapons offence, diverted because of his native ancestry, said his lawyer Anthony DeMarco. Under the native diversion program, the accused acknowledges responsibility for his actions, but doesn't plead guilty and no criminal conviction is registered.
Humphrey said Beausoleil thoroughly washed the murder weapon of any blood and lied to police to evade detection by giving a false name. She noted those were hardly the actions of a drunken man who didn't know what he was doing.
She repeated the chilling words the killer was heard saying before he pursued the unarmed Horlock and fatally stabbed him as he waited for an elevator.
"You shouldn't have messed with me," Humphrey quoted the killer as saying to friends before the slaying.
After the killing, Humphrey said, the accused boasted, "I f---ed that motherf---er up. F--- that guy. I stabbed him."
"He's more concerned about bragging to his friends, and hiding the evidence, than he is about getting help for Ryan," said Humphrey.
DeMarco argued that Beausoleil was too intoxicated to form the intent to kill and should have been convicted of a lesser charge. DeMarco said his client consumed 10 ounces of liquor and eight bottles of beer and smoked four marijuana cigarettes within three hours of the homicide.
"It doesn't make any sense to put him in jail for 12 or 14 years," said DeMarco. The judge agreed. Rivard imposed a life sentence with no chance of parole for the minimum 10 years, but doubted the killer would be "released before serving 20 years" due to the nature of his violent offence.
"I wish this never happened. I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm truly sorry," Beausoleil said before sentencing.
Christopher Beausoleil was arrested by Toronto Police for drinking and breaching his curfew on Feb. 28, 2006, minutes after he plunged a knife into the heart of his "brother" Ryan Horlock, 21, at the St. Dennis Dr. apartment.
Justice Paul Rivard yesterday sentenced Beausoleil, 23, to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 10 years. A jury convicted him of second-degree murder Monday night.
Beausoleil was supposed to be under house arrest and sober for six months when police found him intoxicated in the hallway outside the murder scene. Police charged him with violating the conditional sentence he received in November 2005 for a convenience store robbery in June. His mood changed dramatically from calm and concerned to belligerent and aggressive once he realized he was returning to jail, court heard.
"He became angry once he was arrested ... he brags that he is 21-1 in court and Judge (Patrick) Sheppard won't do anything to him," said Crown attorney Mary Humphrey in her closing to the murder-trial jury. She urged the judge to deny Beausoleil a chance for parole for "the range of 15 years."
In the past five years, Beausoleil had 10 charges, one for a weapons offence, diverted because of his native ancestry, said his lawyer Anthony DeMarco. Under the native diversion program, the accused acknowledges responsibility for his actions, but doesn't plead guilty and no criminal conviction is registered.
Humphrey said Beausoleil thoroughly washed the murder weapon of any blood and lied to police to evade detection by giving a false name. She noted those were hardly the actions of a drunken man who didn't know what he was doing.
She repeated the chilling words the killer was heard saying before he pursued the unarmed Horlock and fatally stabbed him as he waited for an elevator.
"You shouldn't have messed with me," Humphrey quoted the killer as saying to friends before the slaying.
After the killing, Humphrey said, the accused boasted, "I f---ed that motherf---er up. F--- that guy. I stabbed him."
"He's more concerned about bragging to his friends, and hiding the evidence, than he is about getting help for Ryan," said Humphrey.
DeMarco argued that Beausoleil was too intoxicated to form the intent to kill and should have been convicted of a lesser charge. DeMarco said his client consumed 10 ounces of liquor and eight bottles of beer and smoked four marijuana cigarettes within three hours of the homicide.
"It doesn't make any sense to put him in jail for 12 or 14 years," said DeMarco. The judge agreed. Rivard imposed a life sentence with no chance of parole for the minimum 10 years, but doubted the killer would be "released before serving 20 years" due to the nature of his violent offence.
"I wish this never happened. I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm truly sorry," Beausoleil said before sentencing.
We leaned hard on him this time. 10 year minimum.
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