Four convicted multiple murderers in Alberta can now apply for parole after serving 25 years thanks to an Alberta court which has granted the appeals ..Derek Saretzky, Edward Downey, Joshua Frank and Jason Klaus in Alberta can all now apply for parole after 25 years thanks to the decision..On Friday, the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that the men will all have their sentences varied to make parole ineligibility periods run concurrently..Last month the top court struck down the Criminal Code provision that meant multiple murderers might have to wait 50 years or more to apply for parole, calling it "degrading and incompatible with human dignity." .The Supreme Court said those punishments "bring the administration of justice into disrepute" and are "cruel and unusual by nature."The Alberta Court of Appeal followed suit on Friday, applying the new standard in three separate murder cases.Frank and Klaus were each convicted of three counts of first-degree murder after the bodies of Klaus’s father and sister were discovered in their burnt-out farmhouse near Red Deer in 2013. His mother’s body was never found.They were ordered to serve 50 years before applying for release. Downey killed Sara Baillie and her five-year-old daughter, Taliyah Marsman, in Calgary in 2016. He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and given a life sentence with no chance of parole for 50 years.Now because of the ruling, the murders have their ineligibility reduced by half from 50 years to 25 years.All four men have appealed their sentences.
