A murderer who stayed silent when his friend went to prison for the crime will have to serve 18 years in prison before he can apply for parole.
Brian Doyle, 33, received an automatic life sentence yesterday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the 1991 death of Catherine Carroll, whose son Greg Parsons was originally convicted of the killing.
As Mr. Doyle was led out yesterday, Mr. Parsons leaned over a court railing and said: "Enjoy your stay in hell, Brian. I hope you come out in a box."
Mr. Doyle could have been eligible for parole in 10 years, but the brutality of the crime required a longer period, Chief Justice Derek Green of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador said.
"As reprehensible as allowing another person, especially a former friend, to be charged and convicted for something that he [did is] the purpose of the current hearing is not to punish Mr. Doyle for his role in Mr. Parsons's nightmare but to punish him for his role in Catherine Carroll's death," the judge said.
Mr. Parsons, who was once Mr. Doyle's roommate, was 19 when his mother was murdered. The 45-year-old woman was stabbed and slashed 53 times. It was Mr. Parsons who found her body the next day in the bathroom of her St. John's home.
Mr. Parsons was charged nine days later. In 1994, he was convicted of second-degree murder.
Mr. Parsons was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years. He served six weeks before he was granted bail to await an appeal.
In December, 1996, the Newfoundland Court of Appeal set aside the murder conviction and called for a new trial.
The Crown entered a stay of proceedings after tests showed that DNA found under Ms. Carroll's fingernails and on a towel in her washing machine was not Mr. Parsons's. He was formally acquitted in 1998.