MONTREAL -- The Crown and defence had radically different suggestions Friday for the amount of time Quebec's 2012 election-night shooter should serve before becoming eligible for parole.
Prosecutor Dennis Galiatsatos called for Richard Henry Bain to serve the maximum 25 years before parole eligibility kicks in, while defence lawyer Alan Guttman countered with the minimum of 10 years.
Bain turned 66 this week.
Galiatsatos told the court Bain's crimes were abhorrent, repulsive and highly and morally reprehensible and, with the addition of the political motives, the tough sentence is necessary for "having targeted so many human beings."
A jury convicted Bain last month of second-degree murder in the slaying of lightning technician Denis Blanchette outside a Montreal nightclub as Parti Quebecois premier-designate Pauline Marois was inside speaking to supporters.
He was also found guilty of three counts of attempted murder.
Galiatsatos argued a lengthy spell behind bars is justified and that, if more people didn't die that night, it was more the result of "happenstance" and quick police action.
"He committed his shooting at a political rally on election night no less," the prosecutor said. "The attack on democracy itself justifies a 25-year term and takes us away from the comparables."
Guttman asked the court for his client to be eligible to seek parole after 10 years. He said that would be similar to the sentence given to Denis Lortie, the ex-Canadian Forces member who killed three government employees and wounded 13 other people when he stormed the Quebec legislature with several firearms in 1984.
"I'm asking for the minimum -- it's a life sentence, but I'm going to be asking for 10 years ineligibility for parole, based on the case of Denis Lortie and based on Mr. Bain's mental illness," Guttman told reporters earlier.
"This is the only case that would come close to Mr. Bain's. Denis Lortie was a very sick man, he did not like the government. He went to the national assembly in 1984 with the idea of killing as many MNAs (members) as possible."
Lortie was found guilty of first-degree murder but had the conviction overturned. Granted a new trial, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was not eligible for parole for at least 10 years.
The second-degree murder conviction carries a sentence of life imprisonment, but parole eligibility can range between 10 and 25 years. Quebec Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer will deliberate before ruling.
Cournoyer admitted he forgot to ask the jurors for sentence recommendation on the day they returned the verdicts.
The Crown presented five witnesses Friday -- four of Blanchette's colleagues and his sister, who delivered an impact statement written in the voice of her deceased brother.
Blanchette, 48, left behind a daughter who is now eight. Diane Blanchette's statement chanelled her brother.
"You took away my life, my right to live," she told Bain. "You took away my right to be a father, which I valued most in the world."
Bain sat impassively and Guttman later explained that anti-psychotic medication leaves his client largely numb.
Jonathan Dube, a colleague of Blanchette's, said he hopes Bain will "burn in hell for an eternity" for his crime.
All of Blanchette's colleagues described having to still deal with fallout from the shooting: psychological issues, post-traumatic stress and guilt at having survived.
"It is the first day of the rest of our lives as I will finally be able to turn to another chapter," Dube said.
"For you, it will be the first day of the rest of your sentence, which will never be long enough to erase your despicable actions."
