Convicted killer Travis Vader will learn his fate Wednesday when he is sentenced in the deaths of St. Albert, Alta. couple Lyle and Marie McCann.
Vader was found guilty on two counts of manslaughter. He is the only person to be charged in the McCanns’ deaths.
The couple, both in their 70s, were beginning a road trip to B.C. when they disappeared after stopping at a gas station in St. Albert.
They were last seen alive on July 3, 2010. Their burned out RV was found two days later at a campsite near Edson, Alta.Their bodies have never been found.
A billboard along the Yellowhead Highway near Edmonton asked for help in finding Lyle and Marie McCann.
Vader, 44, has denied killing the couple. During a sentencing hearing in December, he argued his rights were violated while in custody. He claimed the RCMP used excessive force while arresting him and that he had been beaten up by guards at the Edmonton Remand Centre.
Defence lawyers have asked Edmonton Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Denny Thomas to sentence their client to four to six years, which would essentially amount to time served. If the defence gets their way, Vader could be released from custody.
Crown prosecutor Ashley Finlayson is asking for Vader to be sentenced to life in prison.
Vader was originally convicted of second-degree murder for killing the McCanns.
But when it was found that Thomas had relied on a section of the Criminal Code that had been ruled unconstitutional, Thomas downgraded the convictions to manslaughter.
During the sentencing hearing, the defence suggested the McCanns could have been accidentally killed, a theory Thomas ruled out.
“How do you accidentally kill two old people? ” Thomas asked in court. “You could accidentally kill one, but not two.”
Thomas has said Vader will be given a chance to speak in court before the sentence is read out.
The McCanns’ son, Bret McCann, will be watching the sentencing via a video link from Australia.