Ryan Grantham, an actor, was found guilty of the second-degree murder of his mother, Barbara Waite, in 2020 and given a life sentence. The 24-year-old actor was given a sentence in Vancouver this week. According to the CBC, he will not be able to get out of jail for 14 years.
In Canada, people who kill someone in the second degree automatically get a life sentence. During a hearing in June, the court found out that on March 31, 2020, Grantham shot his mother in the back of the head while she was playing the piano.
In a video he took, the “Riverdale” actor admitted to killing his mother and showed the body. The next day, he put three guns, bullets, 12 Molotov cocktails, and camping gear into his car with the plan to kill Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
He turned himself into the Vancouver police instead. Serving as a judge, Kathleen Ker called the fact that Grantham did not go through with his plan to kill everyone a “saving grace.” Reports from a psychiatrist given to the court also showed that the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” actor wanted to kill himself and felt bad about himself after the murder.
According to the CBC, the court found that Grantham had been depressed in the months before the murder and that he killed his mother to keep her from seeing the violence he had planned. “I can not explain or defend what I did.
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On the last day of his sentencing hearing in June, Grantham said, “I have no reason.” “It hurts me to think about how much of my life I have wasted… When something is so terrible, saying “I am sorry” seems like a waste of time.
But I am sorry from the bottom of my heart.” Lisa Grantham, Grantham’s sister, found the body of her mother on April 1, 2020, according to Complex. She testified that her brother is a “dangerous person” and that she feared he would get out of prison.
The actor’s sister said that the murder ruined her life and career and that her mother, who had cancer when she died, was her best friend. She told the court, “It breaks my heart that she fought so hard, only to be killed by her own son.”
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“She was weak, and Ryan did not give her a chance to fight back. It hurts me to think that he could have killed her.” Chris Johnson, Grantham’s lawyer, told CTV News that his client was not shocked by the sentence. “I think he knew what kind of sentence the judge would give him,” Johnson said.
“I think he is pretty worried about everything. He is not very big, and I am sure the thought of going to prison is scary and overwhelming for him. Justice Ker also said that Grantham was “small” and suggested that he not be sent to a high-security prison.
