Convicted serial killer John Paul Ostamas is “entitled” to appeal the 75-year prison term he received in 2016..So said his lawyer who filed notice with the Manitoba Court of Appeal to have his sentence reviewed and reduced by two-thirds..Entitled, is he?.Well, how about Miles Monias? The 37-year-old was entitled to not be pummeled so brutally in a bus shelter he later died in hospital..Stony Stanley Bushie, 48, was entitled to not be lured to a place where he was beaten beyond recognition to death with a steel bar and a two by four..Both were attacked April 25, 2015, just a few hours apart..And 65 year-old Donald Collins was entitled to live, instead of being stabbed, receiving 71 injuries, then strangled April 10, 2015..That’s a lot of deadly rage Ostamas inflicted on three intoxicated homeless Winnipeg men picked at random and unable to defend themselves..They weren’t shown mercy..The grave offers no reprieve or second chances..But the monster that pleaded guilty to snuffing out their lives just might be afforded leniency because the soft-hearted Supreme Court of Canada unanimously decided last month that consecutive life sentences for those who kill multiple victims is unconstitutional..Ostamas, who received three consecutive life sentences — the longest sentence handed down in Manitoba history — might be eligible to apply for parole by 2040, not 2090 if the appeal court sympathizes with his cruel and unusual punishment..That’s what the Supreme Court of Canada calls these long prison sentences — cruel and unusual punishment..Most Canadians would call them other things. Justice. Safer streets. Comprehension and appreciation of what victims endured..The Supreme Court overturned a 2011 decision made in Parliament in 2011, under former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s government, to amend the Criminal Code. Bill C-48 permitted consecutive life sentences for murderers with multiple victims..Section 745.51 of the Criminal Code was struck down..The ruling overturned a sentence for Alexandre Bissonnette who pleaded guilty to shooting and killing six people at Quebec City’s Islamic Cultural Centre in 2017..In 2019 Bissonnette was sentenced to 40 years with no chance of parole. The Supreme Court lowered his sentence to 25 years without parole eligibility. Opposition Conservatives and the NDP united in anger and argued Canada’s worst murderers belong behind bars..Silly them. The Supreme Court figured consecutive life sentences based on the number of victims is cruel and unusual punishment, wrote Chief Justice Richard Wagner..The decision reasoned this breaches an offender’s Charter rights and causes them to suffer a “hard to tolerate” and “monotonous, futile existence in isolation from their loved ones.”.Ostamas’s lawyer Ryan Amy expects the request to hear the appeal will be granted.."The Supreme Court has made it clear the 75 years is unconstitutional. He's entitled to appeal to get the sentence lowered," he told the CBC..Amy noted it wouldn’t guarantee a parole for Ostamas..That’s a small comfort. Parole boards have made a lot of bad calls. Time and again in their naïve compassion they’ve set free ‘rehabilitated’ murderers, child predators, thieves, and rapists who found themselves scores of new victims..In an exclusive CTV news jail-house interview in 2016, Ostamas talked about his woes … never emotionally recovering from an alleged beating by three policemen when he was nine years old … getting involved with gangs and using and selling drugs … suffering paranoia … being diagnosed with schizophrenia, an anxiety disorder, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder..A tough past. Tough times. Huge problems..Jail reforms many offenders. But ‘fixing’ Ostamas and turning him into a non-threatening, productive citizen in the community is a tall and unreasonable pie in the sky expectation of the justice system..Monias, Bushie, and Collins obviously suffered tough enough times to land on the street and in the clutches of addictions..None of them brutally beat anyone to death..It didn’t take long at all after the Bissonnette decision for this appeal to surface..Going forward, are we to expect lawyers to fall all over themselves running to appeal courts to make a name for themselves and test a law — at great taxpayer expense — that puts the murderers needs before victims?.Count on it. It’s all about people who commit horrific crimes being entitled.
Convicted serial killer John Paul Ostamas is “entitled” to appeal the 75-year prison term he received in 2016..So said his lawyer who filed notice with the Manitoba Court of Appeal to have his sentence reviewed and reduced by two-thirds..Entitled, is he?.Well, how about Miles Monias? The 37-year-old was entitled to not be pummeled so brutally in a bus shelter he later died in hospital..Stony Stanley Bushie, 48, was entitled to not be lured to a place where he was beaten beyond recognition to death with a steel bar and a two by four..Both were attacked April 25, 2015, just a few hours apart..And 65 year-old Donald Collins was entitled to live, instead of being stabbed, receiving 71 injuries, then strangled April 10, 2015..That’s a lot of deadly rage Ostamas inflicted on three intoxicated homeless Winnipeg men picked at random and unable to defend themselves..They weren’t shown mercy..The grave offers no reprieve or second chances..But the monster that pleaded guilty to snuffing out their lives just might be afforded leniency because the soft-hearted Supreme Court of Canada unanimously decided last month that consecutive life sentences for those who kill multiple victims is unconstitutional..Ostamas, who received three consecutive life sentences — the longest sentence handed down in Manitoba history — might be eligible to apply for parole by 2040, not 2090 if the appeal court sympathizes with his cruel and unusual punishment..That’s what the Supreme Court of Canada calls these long prison sentences — cruel and unusual punishment..Most Canadians would call them other things. Justice. Safer streets. Comprehension and appreciation of what victims endured..The Supreme Court overturned a 2011 decision made in Parliament in 2011, under former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s government, to amend the Criminal Code. Bill C-48 permitted consecutive life sentences for murderers with multiple victims..Section 745.51 of the Criminal Code was struck down..The ruling overturned a sentence for Alexandre Bissonnette who pleaded guilty to shooting and killing six people at Quebec City’s Islamic Cultural Centre in 2017..In 2019 Bissonnette was sentenced to 40 years with no chance of parole. The Supreme Court lowered his sentence to 25 years without parole eligibility. Opposition Conservatives and the NDP united in anger and argued Canada’s worst murderers belong behind bars..Silly them. The Supreme Court figured consecutive life sentences based on the number of victims is cruel and unusual punishment, wrote Chief Justice Richard Wagner..The decision reasoned this breaches an offender’s Charter rights and causes them to suffer a “hard to tolerate” and “monotonous, futile existence in isolation from their loved ones.”.Ostamas’s lawyer Ryan Amy expects the request to hear the appeal will be granted.."The Supreme Court has made it clear the 75 years is unconstitutional. He's entitled to appeal to get the sentence lowered," he told the CBC..Amy noted it wouldn’t guarantee a parole for Ostamas..That’s a small comfort. Parole boards have made a lot of bad calls. Time and again in their naïve compassion they’ve set free ‘rehabilitated’ murderers, child predators, thieves, and rapists who found themselves scores of new victims..In an exclusive CTV news jail-house interview in 2016, Ostamas talked about his woes … never emotionally recovering from an alleged beating by three policemen when he was nine years old … getting involved with gangs and using and selling drugs … suffering paranoia … being diagnosed with schizophrenia, an anxiety disorder, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder..A tough past. Tough times. Huge problems..Jail reforms many offenders. But ‘fixing’ Ostamas and turning him into a non-threatening, productive citizen in the community is a tall and unreasonable pie in the sky expectation of the justice system..Monias, Bushie, and Collins obviously suffered tough enough times to land on the street and in the clutches of addictions..None of them brutally beat anyone to death..It didn’t take long at all after the Bissonnette decision for this appeal to surface..Going forward, are we to expect lawyers to fall all over themselves running to appeal courts to make a name for themselves and test a law — at great taxpayer expense — that puts the murderers needs before victims?.Count on it. It’s all about people who commit horrific crimes being entitled.
