News

BATTLEFORD, Sask, May 4 (LSN) – Randy Kirkham, the original crown prosecutor in the case against Robert Latimer (the father who killed his disabled 12-year-old daughter in an alleged “mercy killing”) is facing charges today of obstruction of justice for his actions in the case he brought forward against Latimer.  It is alleged that Kirkham designed a questionnaire for the RCMP to screen prospective jurors for their views on abortion, euthanasia and religion, and then failed to tell the judge and the defense of the questionnaire.  During the trial, Kirkham called Latimer’s murder of his daughter “cold and calculated,” noting that Latimer had “sat there and timed and watched his daughter’s death.” The original trial resulted in Latimer’s conviction of second-degree murder and a life sentence for his crime. However, the Saskatchewan Justice Department supposedly “found” the questionnaire a few months after the trial leading to Kirkham’s suspension and his being charged by the Crown Prosecutors Office. A re-trial for Latimer resulted in a much lighter sentence of merely 2 years with less than a year in jail for the murder of Tracy Latimer.  See a 2 minute CBC Newsworld television report on this item at:  https://newsworld.cbc.ca/archive/html/1998/05/04/latimer980504c.html