A twisted fever for vengeance gripped Luciano Mariani.
asserted
fever → grip → Mariani
He planned to kill his former girlfriend after she had an abortion.
asserted
she → plan → abortion
In August, 2021, he bought a baseball bat at a Value Village in Vancouver and travelled to Vancouver Island.
asserted
he → buy → Island
According to court records, Mr. Mariani stalked Caroline Bernard’s home in the hours before dawn.
uncertain
Mariani → accord → dawn
In previous weeks, he had scoped out details of his plan online.
asserted
he → scope → plan
His searches included “what to do if you believe an eye for an eye and your child was killed” and “time needed to kill someone with a baseball bat.”
asserted
child → include → bat
He broke through a sliding glass door at Ms. Bernard’s home a little after 4 a.m. He beat her to death in her bed.
asserted
He → break → bed
Two years later, the 45-year-old Mr. Mariani pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
asserted
Mariani → plead → murder
His lawyers, however, challenged Canada’s long-standing punishment for first-degree murder, killings that are planned and deliberate: a life sentence with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years.
asserted
that → challenge → years
They argued that the mandatory minimum sentence levied on all people convicted of first-degree murder, without any exceptions, violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
asserted
sentence → argue → Rights
The faint-hope clause offered an opening to apply for early parole after 15 years.
asserted
clause → offer → years
But in 2011, the Conservative federal government eliminated that option.
asserted
government → eliminate → option
Mr. Mariani’s lawyers made the case that scrapping faint hope meant the one-size-fits-all minimum for first-degree murder was, under the Charter, cruel and unusual punishment.
asserted
minimum → make → Charter
In mid-2025, when Mr. Mariani was sentenced, Justice Robin Baird of the British Columbia Supreme Court described the murder as one of obscene brutality, “exceptionally violent” and “committed in cold blood.”
asserted
Baird → sentence → blood
It inflicted profound and permanent pain on Ms. Bernard’s family, he said.
asserted
he → inflict → family
But Justice Baird also concluded the absence of faint hope violated the Charter.
asserted
absence → conclude → Charter
Faint hope, the judge said, was “part of a legislative compromise that led to the abolition of capital punishment.”
asserted
that → say → punishment
He called it an “important element of the balance” in the punishment of first-degree murder.
asserted
He → call → murder
The judge’s ruling, applicable only in B.C., restored the faint hope of parole at 15 years for people convicted of first-degree murder, including Mr. Mariani.
asserted
ruling → restore → Mariani
The judgment is now under the scrutiny of three judges on B.C.’s top bench, the Court of Appeal, after they heard arguments in June.
asserted
they → hear → June
A ruling from the appeal court is expected this fall.
asserted
ruling → expect → court
If the top provincial court affirms the restoration of faint hope, it would likely presage a high-profile showdown at the Supreme Court of Canada.
asserted
it → affirm → Canada
Ms. Bernard’s family is still reeling from her murder.
asserted
family → reel → murder
That Mr. Mariani could get out of prison earlier than the 25 years just doesn’t make sense to them.
uncertain
get → get → them
“I cannot understand the law,” Margarita Bernard, Caroline’s mother, said in an e-mail.
asserted
Bernard → understand → mail
“My life was destroyed and I will never recuperate from this.
asserted
I → destroy → this
I will live with this pain until I die.”
asserted
I → live → pain
Now, what started as a murder case has morphed into a constitutional reckoning and vaulted a philosophical question of crime and punishment into an unexpected spotlight at a top court.
asserted
started → start → court
It’s a question that has long been debated by a small group of lawyers and legal academics: Does Canada punish murder too harshly?
asserted
Canada → ’ → murder
Parliament instituted the mandatory minimum for first-degree murder a half-century ago when the country abolished the death penalty.
asserted
country → institute → penalty
From Confederation in 1867 to 1962, Canada executed 710 people.
asserted
Canada → execute → people
The last two hangings happened at the Don Jail in Toronto, a few weeks before Christmas.
asserted
hangings → happen → Christmas
A Globe and Mail investigation the next year revealed major questions in one of those executions, helping to propel mounting public opposition against the hangman’s noose.
Punishing a crime has three goals.
asserted
Punishing → reveal → goals
One is deterrence, to dissuade people from transgressions; another is denunciation, for society to declare its condemnation; the third is rehabilitation, to bring offenders back into society after they serve their time.
asserted
they → dissuade → time
Debate on the death penalty – and what would replace it – was intense.
asserted
what → replace → it
Police favoured the death penalty and argued that a life sentence and a minimum of 25 years in jail was the only acceptable alternative.
asserted
sentence → favour → jail
But they offered no empirical evidence.
asserted
they → offer → evidence
At the time, murderers served an average of 16 years in prison.
asserted
murderers → serve → prison
One Liberal MP argued a 25-year minimum incarceration was crueller than the death penalty.
asserted
incarceration → argue → penalty
But in the House of Commons, prime minister Pierre Trudeau said the long sentence would assure Canadians that “those who have unlawfully taken the life of another will be removed from our midst for a very long time.”
asserted
who → say → time
…and 107 more, not listed.
The Aporia
