Murderer Dellen Millard will be eligible for parole 50 years early

Dellen Millard defended himself in court.

Ontario's highest court on Friday denied multiple murderer Dellen Millard's request for an appeal trial against his conviction for the murder of his father. However, the court applied a recent Supreme Court ruling that allows him to apply for parole after 25 years, not 75.

The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld Millard's life sentence for the first degree murder of Wayne Millard. In contrast, the three-judge panel ruled that the order to stack his parole ineligibility period on top of his two previous murder sentences could not stand.

Dellen Millard was convicted of murdering his father without the possibility of parole for 75 years after the trial judge used a Criminal Code provision to stack the 25-year parole ineligibility period with his previous sentences for the murders of Tim Bosma and Laura Babcock.

The Supreme Court ruled last year, in the Bissonnette case, that these types of consecutive periods of parole ineligibility are unconstitutional. This case law allows Millard to apply for parole after 25 years.

Dellen Millard asked the court on Friday to clarify when exactly he would then be eligible to apply for parole, but judges declined to comment as they are still deciding his appeal and that of co-convicted Mark Smich in the Bosma and Babcock murders.

The court reserved its decision in those other calls, which he heard earlier this week.

With information from La Presse canadienne, and CBC