The sentencing hearing for Travis Vader, convicted on two counts of manslaughter in the deaths of elderly St. Albert couple Lyle and Marie McCann, will resume after Christmas.

Seven days of testimony wrapped on Tuesday with Crown counsel Ashley Finlayson calling several witnesses, including two prison guards and a nurse at the Edmonton Remand Centre as well as Const. Steven McQueen who was involved in strip-searching Vader when he was arrested in 2010.

Vader's lawyer, Nate Whitling, didn't call any witnesses.

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  Sentencing hearing begins for Travis Vader, convicted in deaths of St. Albert couple

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  McCann family urges government to clean up Criminal Code

• ■Police constable debunks Vader's claim strip search was 'humiliating'

Vader was on the stand for four days, most of it cross-examination by the Crown to discredit Vader's claims that he suffered abuse and humiliation during the police investigation and his time in jail.

Vader was originally convicted on second-degree murder charges for the McCanns. They were last seen alive at a St. Albert gas station as they were embarking on a road trip to British Columbia in July, 2010. Their motorhome was found burned two days later in a campsite near Edson.

Lyle McCann, 78, and his wife, Marie, 77, were last seen alive in July 2010. (CBC)

The convictions were later downgraded to manslaughter because in reaching his original verdict, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Denny Thomas had relied on a section of the Criminal Code that had been found unconstitutional more than two decades earlier.

Bret McCann, the victims' son, is urging federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to bring the Criminal Code up to date.

"The pain endured by my family because of this so-called zombie law was enormous," McCann wrote in a letter to Wilson-Raybould last week.

The Crown and defence are expected to make closing arguments starting Jan. 3 on whether Vader has proven his constitutional rights were violated during the police investigation and his time in jail.

The defence argues Vader should be released without more jail time while the Crown is asking for life in prison. The sentence for manslaughter ranges from probation to life in prison with no chance of parole for seven years.

Vader has spent much of the last 6 1/2 years behind bars.