Judge orders Dellen Millard, Mark Smich locked up for next 45 years at least
Dellen Millard and Mark Smich will remain in jail until at least 2063.
Convicted murderers Dellen Millard and Mark Smich will have to wait about 45 years before asking for parole, a judge ruled Monday.
Millard, 32, and Smich, 30, are already serving automatic life sentences with no parole eligibility for 25 years for the first-degree murder of Tim Bosma of Ancaster, Ont. Late last year, a Toronto jury convicted the pair of killing Laura Babcock, finding it was planned and deliberate and therefore first-degree murder, which carries an automatic life sentence.
Crown attorney Jill Cameron urged Superior Court Justice Michael Code earlier this month to make the 25-year parole inegibility period for Babcock’s murder consecutive to the inegibility period for Bosma’s murder. The federal government added the option of consecutive inegibility periods to the Criminal Code in 2011.
“These murders were two carefully planned out separate events over the course of almost a year, and in my submission the law demands that they be sentenced consecutively,” Cameron said.”Justice for Laura demands a separate penalty for her murder.”
Defence lawyers argued that consecutive periods of parole ineligibility would leave the convicted murderers no chance to apply for parole until their 70s, which would be unduly harsh.
On Monday while delivering his sentencing decision, Justice Code described Millard as “profoundly amoral and dangerous” and said that Smich was an “enthusiastic” participant in the murder of Babcock.
Smich will be eligible for parole on May 22, 2063, when he's 75.
Millard will be eligible for parole on May 10, 2063, when he's 77