Murder of Tracy Latimer

Robert William "Bob" Latimer born March 13, 1953, is Canadian canola and wheat grower who was sentenced of second-degree killing in the demise of his daughter Tracy (November 23, 1980 – October 24, 1993). This case spurred a national debate on the description and morality of euthanasia as well as the liberties of people with disabilities and steered to two Supreme Court rulings, R. v. Latimer (1997), on section 10 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and later R. v. Latimer (2001), on cruel and rare penalties under section 12 of the Charter. Latimer was discharged on day parole in March 2008 and was approved of full parole in December 2010.

The 1993 killing of 13-year old Tracy Latimer by her father, Robert Latimer, in rural Saskatchewan.

Tracy was harshly mentally and physically impaired from birth. She endured from a non-terminal but awfully painful physical situation. She was non-verbal and incapable to convey her wishes.

She had undergone various surgeries that were thought to relieve the pain. The Latimers were sure that the surgery was making the pain worse.

Many people have characterized that if you kept a pet animal alive that was in so much discomfort, the SPCA would bring penalties of animal brutality. But because she was human and dependent on her family to make rulings for her, she was anticipated to just endure.

Finally, Robert Latimer agreed that enough was enough. One Sunday in October, after Laura Latimer had taken their other three children to church, as normal, he put Tracy in the cab of his truck, nourished the exhaust from the engine into the cab, turned on the truck, and saw until Tracy had taken her last breath.

The dilemma with the law in Canada (and most other countries) is that judiciaries are not authorized to deem whether the accused had any acceptable option, or whether the option is worse than the crime.

Latimer was sentenced to second-degree murder, which holds the least penalty of life with no parole for at least fifteen years. Nonetheless, the judge convicted him to only one year in jail, followed by one year of probation.

The Crown Prosecution disputed this, and Latimer was retried. He was convicted to life with no parole for 10 years.

After 15 years in jail, Robert Latimer was awarded day parole in 2008, and full parole in 2010.

According to an entry in Wikipedia, “1999 found that 73% of Canadians thought that Latimer behaved out of attention and should earn a more vague verdict.”