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Loading ...Gay man’s killer to be released
01.27.2009 2:28pm EST
(Vancouver, British Columbia) The man described as the ringleader in killing of a gay man in a Vancouver park eight years ago is being released early from prison after serving four years of a six-year sentence.
Ryan Cran was convicted of manslaughter in 2005 in the slaying of Aaron Webster.Webster’s naked body was found in a pool of blood on a footpath near a public parking lot in a gay cruising area of Vancouver’s Stanley Park in November 2001. An autopsy showed he had been beaten to death with a blunt instrument, probably a baseball bat. Stanley Park was a well known cruising area and the killing galvanized Vancouver’s gay community and police at the time.
Cran was sentenced to six years in prison, while two young offenders received lesser terms after admitting their roles in the November 2001 beating. A fourth man was found not guilty.
At Cran’s sentencing, prosecutors asked for a six- to nine-year sentence, but did not seek to have the case treated as a hate crime to allow for a longer sentence – something that angered Webster’s family and BC LGBT activists.
Nevertheless, at the sentencing hearing, the judge was told that Cran had not shown any remorse for the killing. The prosecutor said that the pack of armed men were looking to hunt down another human being for entertainment.
The two juveniles were released after serving two years in a youth detention center.
During his four years behind bars, Cran launched several unsuccessful appeals. Under Canadian law, a prisoner can be freed after serving two-thirds of a sentence if there have been no problems during the incarceration.
Webster’s cousin Denise Norman had lobbied the National Parole Board to have Cran banned from the predominantly gay West End where the park was located.
The board disregarded Norman’s plea. Cran’s release conditions only require counseling, refraining from alcohol, and having no contact with Webster’s family.
This case makes a profoundly sad statement about the legal system in British Columbia.
You can get more time in the U.S. for looking at underage porn on the internet.
This is an injustice. These killers got off easy because their victim was gay.
Good God!! How can this be?? He took a human life. If this were an animal, here in the U.S., he would be facing some hard time.
Nice to know that you can commit pre-meditated murder in Vancouver and get off with a lousy four f*cking years. I hope that b*stard Cran is run down by an out-of-control sewage truck. (Same goes for his fellow-murderer, Danny Rao.)
The philosophy when sentencing young offenders in Canada(there is a young offenders act), is that four to six years is a long time in the life of a teenager or child. We can think of the changes we all went through at that time in our lives, and its a big portion a young life has lived from birth up until incarceration. It seems like less time when you’re an adult. Whether or not the procecution had enough evidence to classify this as a hate crime is another debate. I’m just trying to provide some information people. I understand everyone’s anger, believe me, I do.
why doesn’t somebody just kill him?
This is completely outrageous. 4 ****ing years! Whether it was a hate crime or not, killing another human being with malice deserves life in jail or the death penalty. Where is the justice? Is Canadian law really that screwed up? Reading this article just makes me sick.
Brian, there is no death penalty in Canada. Also, the sentencing in Canada for deadly crimes is far too lenient. The fact that this guy got off so lightly is merely an example of a problem in the entire Canadian sentencing system, regardless of victim. On the other hand, the reduced manslaughter change in this case, and the absence of a hate-crime enhancement on the sentence are even harder to understand.
this is bull[crap], he committed murder and he gets out of prision after only 4 yrs, what a crock of shit,if it was anyone else he killed he would have been sentenced to live or the death penlty..just because the guy he killed was gay he gets off easy…this is the biggest crock i have ever heard of.
Arm yourselves people!
If you can’t do that, take a self defense course. The gobernment is NOT there to take care of you!
What’s all this crying for victims of crime I hear everywhere, already? Maybe we do shed crockodile tears for unfortunate victims of crime. But, if the victim is gay, no way! I think that’s the message of this sentence, the trial judge, and the parole board.
I wonder….would 4 years be enough,if the victim was straight? It was a hate crime,pure & simple. I feel bad for the victim’s family. They’re the ones that received the life sentence.
It’s a travesty.
At what price a human life, a mere 4-year-long slap on the wrist for a murder by baseball bat. What happened to “do the crime, do the time”? This guy could very likely kill again filled with uncontrolled rage just because maybe he might in the future see a male hug another male. How do you render a hate-filled guy bashing another human being’s skull in or whatever it is he did with that bat, how do you make him safe to be back out on the streets again? Wouldn’t the rest of his natural life behind bars be the only sure way to keep him from doing this again outside of prison other than executing him? Shouldn’t he at least give up his freedom for as long as he lives or until he is far too senile to hurt anyone? Wouldn’t releasing him only when he is very senile be a bargain for him considering his victim will never get his life back and that his family will likely be imprisoned in private grief for decades maybe especially because of the way Webster died?
Wow Are you kidding me. I nephew just went to jail for 79 months ( 6 yrs) for Pushing a girl down Really people come on