(Staff) Robert Latimer (right), who is serving a ten-year sentence for killing his disabled daughter during what he claims was an act of “compassionate euthanasia,” was denied day parole by Canada's National Parole Board.

On Dec. 5 the Board found the Saskatchewan farmer lacked any remorse for the murder. "We were left with the feeling that you have not developed…sufficient insight and understanding of your actions," said Kelly-Ann Speck, one of the three-member board panel. Latimer’s belief that his actions were above the law was one reason the panel cited for denying him parole. 

Two different juries found Latimer guilty of second-degree murder in the 1993 death of his 12-year-old daughter Tracy, who was born with cerebral palsy and was a quadriplegic. Latimer killed his daughter by leaving her in the family pickup truck with the motor running and a hose from the tail pipe extended into the cab, while the rest of his family was at church. She died from the exhaust fumes. He then tried to hide his actions by placing Tracy in her bed so his wife would assume Tracy had died naturally. 

The Supreme Court of Canada concluded that Latimer’s ten-year sentence was reasonable because he did not allow Tracy to take a more effective pain medication. She was in the process of being considered for a group home when she was murdered.   

Jim Derksen of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities said his group would fight the unfair portrayal of Tracy Latimer. “Her father, the murderer, was portrayed as a victim.” Derksen said that viewing her life as not worth living was “extremely dangerous to vulnerable people with disabilities.” Rory Summers of the B.C. Association of Community Living, which supports the disabled, witnessed the hearing. “What we saw was such a profound lack of remorse for his actions, that it was deeply disturbing.”