I believe the crown is going for first degree "premeditated" murder because there is evidence to support the charge OR the crown is leveraging themselves for a confession and potentially for a plea to 2nd degree. Either way he is in jail for the rest of his sorry pathetic life.
Here is wha I believe makes it Pre-meditated:
-the video of him casing the neighbourhood
-the fact that there looks to be some kind of motive (yet unconfirmed- but IMO)
-the fact that the crime scene was cleaned up and the perp hid the bodies shows a calculated response
-perhaps there is other evidence collected that we don't know ie computer searches that reveal plans, interviews with family, colleagues etc.
as the case is built around
pre-meditation it will be more difficult for the defense to claim insanity.... I hope.
There have been some pretty heinous crimes committed in Canada where the person was acquitted by reason of insanity but in these cases the person IMO really was crazy. The crime wasn't planned it just happened spur of the moment.
for example:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...t-to-leave-mental-hospital-without-on-escort/
The one thing I'm worried about is that the defense will actually use the murder of that poor child as a defense.... ie-- What kind of person murders a 5 year old child?... A mentally unstable person, that's who.
Also-- I would be seriously interested in hearing where Garland's parents are in all of this? Now that charges are laid I think they should put forth some sort of prepared statement for the victim's families and the public. It's still early days I guess but I do think it is weird that their farm has been the subject of one of the largest searches in recent history for over 10 days now and there hasn't been a peep from these folks via lawyer or family spokesperson. Weird. I sort of worry for DG's parents. I hope they are getting good legal advice and have the support of friends and family. I don't think they will ever be able to return to that farm and live the life they had there.