A Windsor-based defence attorney doesn't believe you shut off an avenue to parole eligibility, no matter how horrible the case.
Bobby Russon, who was reacting to the latest parole board hearing for notorious killer Paul Bernardo, told AM800's The Dan MacDonald Show that you want to give reasons for a person to try to improve and come back as a member of society.
The families of Paul Bernardo's victims say they are retraumatized every time his parole hearings come up.
On Tuesday, a two-member Parole Board of Canada panel denied Bernardo's third parole bid after deliberating for about 30 minutes.
Russon says that there is no shortage of sympathy for the families of the victims.
"You have to balance these things; you have to look at a counterweight," he says. "At the end of the day, as obvious as a case as Paul Bernardo might be, a lot of people who have done horrific things, just less horrific, are not as obvious cases. You don't want to live in a country where you say lock them up and throw away a key; there's no hope for rehabilitation for anyone."
Bernardo, who is designated a dangerous offender, is serving an indeterminate life sentence for the kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont.
Russon says he understand that it's an ideal case to argue against Paul Bernardo because of how horrifying everything was.
"Like I said, I don't think he ever gets out. The answer is, I'm all for more support for the victims families; whatever can be done, but the answer is not just shutting off an avenue to parole eligibility in my respectful view," he says.
The parole board noted that while Bernardo has made some progress during incarceration, there is still significant concern about his risk of sexual recidivism and his narcissistic personality disorder, given the "extremely violent" nature of his crimes.
The 60-year-old told the board he was primarily seeking day parole at a halfway house, or at a minimum, escorted absences from prison so that he can attend a community program for sex offenders.