By Paige Parsons
Travis Vader’s defence lawyer is proposing the convicted killer receive enough credit for time served in pre-trial custody that he would walk free at the conclusion of the court case.
Vader’s lawyer Nate Whitling made the proposal Wednesday morning on what is expected to be the final day of a sentencing hearing for two manslaughter convictions after he was found responsible for the killings of Lyle and Marie McCann, St. Albert grandparents who were both in their late 70s when they vanished in 2010.
Whitling proposed that Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Denny Thomas take into account time Vader has spent in custody in the years leading up to his conviction of two counts of manslaughter. Whitling has calculated that to be worth more than six years, based on the number of times Vader has been in and out jail as the investigation and court case played out. Vader’s lawyers argued for sentences of four to six years to be served at the same time, which would mean Vader has already served enough time to fulfill the sentence.
Vader, 44, was found guilty of two counts of manslaughter on Oct. 31. The McCanns vanished after leaving their Edmonton-area home on a camping trip to British Columbia in July 2010. Thomas found that Vader was a desperate drug addict who came across the McCanns in their motorhome near Peers, Alta., and killed them during a robbery. The couple’s bodies have never been found.
Vader has never confessed to the killings, and though he didn’t testify during the trial, he spent multiple days during the first week of his sentencing hearing in December giving evidence to back up his claims of the mistreatment visited upon him by various people in the criminal justice system.
On Tuesday, Thomas dismissed part of Vader’s application.
Thomas is to sentence Vader on Jan. 25.
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