Robert Latimer: A story of justice and mercy [Hardcover]

Saskatchewan wheat farmer Robert Latimer, the man at the centre of Canada’s most contentious euthanasia trial, is given an extremely sympathetic treatment in this new study. A passionate advocate for more permissive end-of-life legislation, author Gary Bauslaugh frequently allows editorializing to undermine his account of Latimer’s actions and their arduous judicial aftermath. Still, the book serves as a potent character study of a caring and unrepentant parent, while also untangling the complexities of Latimer’s experience and raising thoughtful questions about the role of juries charged with deciding controversial issues.

At birth, Latimer’s daughter, Tracy, suffered severe brain damage at birth due to oxygen deprivation. As a result, she never exceeded the mental capacity of a four-month-old and required dangerously toxic levels of medication to prevent non-stop seizures. The child endured near-constant pain and progressive damage to her limbs, back, and brain that necessitated ongoing, intensive surgical interventions. After 12 years of this, Robert Latimer placed Tracy in the back of his blue GMC truck, connected one end of a length of hose to the exhaust pipe and placed the other into the vehicle’s window, and started it up.

Bauslaugh, who covered the case for the magazine Humanist Perspectives, had extensive access to his subject, visiting Latimer in prison and in the run-up to his trial, and attending his first unsuccessful bid for parole (Latimer has since been granted day parole). In straightforward prose, Bauslaugh characterizes Latimer as a simple man distrustful of legal authorities but honest to a fault, a deeply private person uncomfortably thrust into the public spotlight.

Latimer’s case reached the Supreme Court, and Bauslaugh analyzes each agonizing step of the legal sojourn. He argues that justice was denied because the jury was misled about the possibility of “nullification” – the controversial practice of returning a not-guilty verdict on a technically guilty party to protest a law or its unjust application. (This occurred in the infamous trials of abortion doctor Henry Morgentaler.)

Though public opinion is firmly on Bauslaugh’s side, his case weakens when assessing Latimer’s critics (primarily disability advocates and religious objectors) whom he dismisses as merely irrational or manipulative. And when he ends the book by indulging in a six-page imaginary rewrite of the speech Latimer’s defence lawyer should have been allowed to deliver, the reader’s patience is put on trial.

A passionate indictment of a legal system that failed an honest, hardworking Prairie farmer who paid an unconscionable price for his act of love and mercy. (William Deverell, author of Snow Job )

Robert Latimer: A Story of Justice and Mercy does not pretend to be an impartial history of this emotionally charged case, but instead forcefully advocates that Latimer deserves the kind of mercy he felt he showed to his daughter. Bauslaugh savages the Parole Board appointees who appeared to be making an example of Latimer, and also makes a convincing argument that jury nullification, though frowned upon by the Supreme Court of Canada, was an avenue that should have been open to Latimer and his legal counsel.... ...Robert Latimer: A Story of Justice and Mercy, which was released earlier this month, is thought-provoking, and effectively raises issues that will have to be dealt with, once and for all, by the justice system. (Damian J. Penny is a family law practitioner with Bedford Law Inc. in Bedford, N.S. )

"Robert Latimer's story is the ultimate antidote to the tendency to see the law in abstract terms. The supposed virtue of our legal system is its ability to temper law with justice. This book sets out clearly the many barriers to that goal- naiveté of accused, pop-psychology misconceptions, prosecutorial zeal, professional incompetence, uninformed and biased political and media pressure- among many others. Gary Bauslaugh has written a book that should be on every law school curriculum and on every politician's and justice professional's reading list. The questions he raises about end-of-life issues deserve wide debate, but at the end of the day, as the Latimer case illustrates, even if we do change our laws, we will always need to find justice for those good people who are on the wrong side of the law for the right reasons." (Kim Campbell, former Justic Minister and Prime Minister of Canada )

"Gary Bauslaugh has done a good job...of clearly explaining with documentation the Latimer case and the wider implications of the law and so-called 'mercy killing.' He certainly makes an excellent case for the application of mercy to those caught in horrific circumstances, such as Robert Latimer was — and probably still is." (Candace Fertile Victoria Times Colonist )

The prosecutorial and Parole Board vindictiveness and cruelty -- why? Of course they have a job to do, but why pursue it with such punishing vigour? (Robert Rowan, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, The University of British Columbia )

Robert Latimer's retrial-by-parole-board exposed a fundamental weakness in Canada's criminal justice system that should focus more on reintegration and less on punishment. Whatever one thinks of the merits of Latimer's case he does not present a credible threat to public safety and should have been accorded the dignity of that fact. (Craig Jones, Executive Director, The John Howard Society of Canada )

Gary Bauslaugh has researched and written the most devastating book that I have read in many decades. He has devoted his time and talent to drawing attention to the injustices that have befallen Robert Latimer. He deserves my thanks and those of the thousands of readers who will in the near future feel as I do. (John Robert Colombo, author & anthologist. )

An essential book by one of the closest persons to the man and his homicide. Gary Bauslaugh, whose intervention was key to Robert Latimer's parole – takes us inside the heart and mind of the accused, and chronicles the twists and turns of a justice system struggling to come to terms with the hardest of hard cases. Beautifully written into the bargain. (John Dixon, former President, British Columbia Civil Liberties Association )

This book promises to ensure that Canadians will not forget the unpardonable injustice inflicted by our legal system upon Robert Latimer and his family. Despite some differences over the points that Gary Bauslaugh has chosen to emphasize, I believe that we all stand to be enriched by his pithy book. It exposes pivotal defects in Canadian law, and does so with a compelling account of the human suffering involved. (A. Alan Borovoy, General Counsel Emeritus, Canadian Civil Liberties Association )

Civil liberties, in their complete sense, involve aspects of both legality and humanity. Gary Bauslaugh's book combines these two in an informative, intelligent, clearly written and nuanced way while discussing the Robert Latimer case and asking whether legality is always justice. I learned a good deal from this book -- it will make you think. (Robert Weyant, Emeritus Professor of General Studies, The University of Calgary )

[Robert Latimer: A Story about Justice and Mercy] presents a very human perspective of Latimer's plight as perceived by him, and gives the reader some feel for what it must have been like to have been in Latimer's position when faced with continued medical treatment for Tracy and the virtual certainty of the continuing deterioration in her quality of life… It also presents the readers with a fundamental question: What they would do if they were in a similar position – and how they would justify their choice? Is it worth reading? Yes - definitely. (Eike Kluge, Professor of Applied Ethics, University of Victoria )

Gary Bauslaugh offers a diligent, detailed and passionate analysis of the Robert Latimer story…He paints a fair picture of an honest man in an impossibly complex and desperate situation in which any of us could find ourselves…A timely book as our society deals with the role of religious motivations in public debates about the values of life and death. (Justin Trottier, Executive Director, Centre for Inquiry, Canada )

The author "effectively weaves the tragic events surrounding the Latimer family into a call for enlightened legislation." (Joseph Hnatiuk Winnipeg Free Press )