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Mariani had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, but filed a successful constitutional challenge against a provision in Canada’s Criminal Code preventing those convicted of the crime from applying for parole for 25 years.

The court agreed in January that it was unconstitutional to treat all offenders convicted of first-degree murder the same, but Justice Robin Baird says in sentencing that there was “nothing disproportionate about the mandatory penalty” for Mariani.

Baird’s ruling says the murder was “exceptionally violent,” cold-blooded and against a vulnerable former intimate partner. 

Judge Baird’s ruling says Mariani may apply to reduce his parole eligibility period after 15 years, but there’s no “guarantee that it will be granted.” 

“This was, it goes quite without saying, a crime of obscene brutality with maximally aggravating features fully justifying the severe penalty that the law requires me to impose,” Baird’s ruling says. 

“The damage that you have done to Ms. Bernard’s family and friends is profound and permanent. The magnitude of the insult and injury that you have inflicted upon our local community is enormous. And first and foremost, you have brutally extinguished the life of a fine young woman who was beloved by all who knew her.” 

Baird said murderers serving life sentences get denied parole for many years after becoming eligible to apply, “and of course the most serious, dangerous and high‑risk offenders never succeed in getting it.” 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2025.