Murders of Nathan O'Brien, Kathryn Liknes and Alvin Liknes

The disappearance of Nathan O'Brien, Kathryn Liknes and Alvin Liknes occurred on June 29, 2014. Five-year-old Nathan O'Brien and his grandparents, Kathryn and Alvin Liknes, disappeared from the grandparents' Calgary, Alberta home after what police called a "violent incident."[1] An amber alert was issued. This alert was lifted on July 14, 2014 after the arrest of a person in relation to the disappearance.[2] Later on July 14, 2014, police state that they believe O'Brien and the Likneses were murdered, but they did not recover their bodies.[3] Douglas Garland was charged with two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of the Likneses and a second-degree murder charge for allegedly killing O'Brien.[3][4] The second degree charge for Nathan O'Brien was upgraded by the court to a first degree charge in May 2015.[5]

Trial

The murder trial for Garland began on January 16, 2017. The trial drew to a close on February 16, 2017, and it took the jurors just over nine hours to reach a verdict of guilty on all three counts of first degree murder.

The following morning, Garland was sentenced, with only the minimum sentence being determined, as first degree murder carries an automatic life sentence. After 10 of the 12 jurors recommended that Garland receive consecutive minimum sentences, Judge David Gates ordered Garland be required to serve 75 years before being eligible for parole. As Garland would have to live to 129 years of age to finish the term, this means he will, effectively, be incarcerated for the rest of his life.[6] Throughout the trial, Garland never showed any remorse or emotion.[7] Hours after being sentenced, Garland was sent to the Calgary Remand Centre located in the city's Northwest where he was physically assaulted by multiple inmates. EMS said the victim of the assault was transported to hospital in stable, non-life-threatening condition with soft tissue injuries.[8]

See also

References
  1. "Murder Charges Pending In Missing Calgary Family Case". HuffPost Canada. 14 July 2014.
  2. "Man to face murder charges in case of missing Calgary boy, grandparents; bodies not found". CTV News. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  3. "Nathan O'Brien and his grandparents were murdered, Calgary police say as they move to charge suspect". National Post. 14 July 2014.
  4. "Douglas Garland charged with murder of Nathan O'Brien, Kathy and Alvin Liknes". CBC. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  5. Martin, Kevin (15 January 2017). "Despite no bodies, Douglas Garland trial for the first-degree murders of Nathan O'Brien, Alvin and Kathy Liknes to begin". Calgary Sun. Archived from the original on 17 January 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
  6. Martin, Kevin (16 February 2017). "Garland guilty: Three counts of first-degree murder in killing of Liknes couple, grandson Nathan". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  7. Martin, Kevin (16 February 2017). "Douglas Garland guilty in murders of Nathan O'Brien, Kathy and Alvin Liknes". Calgary Sun. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  8. "Convicted triple murderer Douglas Garland attacked by multiple inmates in Calgary remand centre". Calgary Sun. Archived from the original on 2017-03-20. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
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