TORONTO - A jury heard today that no amount of gardening and baking while in prison justifies early parole for a man who killed two people in a 1982 courtroom rampage.
Convicted murderer Kuldip Singh Samra is asking the jury for an early shot at release after serving 15 years of a mandatory 25-year sentence.
During closing arguments today, Samra's lawyer Dan Scully said his client is a changed man who bakes, gardens, reads and play chess.
Prosecutor Allison Dellandrea is asking the jury to not only deny Samra's bid, but also restrict him from making any other attempts at early parole.
Dellandrea says no amount of gardening and baking can justify showing Samra leniency.
The jury is expected to begin deliberating Wednesday.
Samra, convicted in 1993 of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, is using the so-called "faint hope'' clause of the Criminal Code in a bid for early parole after just 15 years behind bars.
In 1982, he carried a .357 revolver into an Osgoode Hall hearing related to a dispute over an election at a Sikh temple, ostensibly planning to shoot himself in protest.
Instead, he became enraged during the proceedings and opened fire, killing Bhupinder Singh Pannu and lawyer Oscar Fonseca.
Fonseca's client, Amarjit Singh Tatla, was left paralyzed in the shooting.
Samra fled to India, where he lived for eight years before he was arrested.
