The two-and-a-half year saga of Luka Magnotta has come to an end. The former porn star has been convicted by a Montreal jury of the killing of Jun Lin, a Chinese exchange student he met via Craigslist in May 2012.
The story was an especially gruesome one. Not content to have just murdered Lin, Magnotta dismembered his victim’s body and videotaped himself while doing so. He then mailed Lin’s limbs to two schools and Canadian politicians before fleeing the country. Magnotta was eventually tracked to Berlin, where he was arrested and returned to Canada to stand trial.
During the trial, the prosecutors introduced as evidence videos Magnotta posted in which he killed cats and explained that he planned to move on to a human victim.
Despite a previous diagnosis of schizophrenia, Magnotta refused a psychiatric evaluation for his trial. He pled not guilty to the charges against him, which included the very Canadian-sounding allegation of “committing indignity to a body,” as if indignity was sufficient to describe cutting someone up and possibly eating him.
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Magnotta’s lawyers chose an insanity defense for the trial, which began in September, acknowledging that Magnotta was responsible for killing Lin. Magnotta had previously insisted he was innocent.
The verdict means that Magnotta will serve time in a Canadian prison and not a psychiatric hospital. He will be eligible for parole in 25 years.
Lin’s father, Diran Lin, traveled from China to Montreal to offer a victim’s impact statement. “My brave son, smart son, laughing son, caring son, adventurous son, handsome son, strong son, popular son. Gone,” Lin told the court in the statement. “The night Lin Jun died, parts of many other people died in one way or another. In one night, we lost a lifetime of hope, our futures, parts of our past.”
Palto
This POS should be cut up very slowly.
aliengod
This guy should be executed, not imprisoned at taxpayer expense. The fact that he’s eligible for parole in 25 years is disturbing.
Shanestud
Luca was never a “porn star” and never appeared in a prom film. He aspired to be one though and even went to LA and approached several porn production companies who all turned him down. So he took to the internet torturing and killing kittens and finally dismembering the poor Chinese exchange student on camera. He finally got the kind of “fame” or infamy he desperately sought. What a sick, psychopathic, narcissistic f**k.
Aromaeus
A cell is too good for this filth. He’s not human.
Merv
Even considering parole for this piece of garbage after 25 years is inhumane. Life should mean life.
jwtraveler
Canada is a civilized country. They don’t kill their citizens and residents, even those convicted of serious crimes. This guy is a human being with a mental illness that drove him to commit a horrible crime. It’s unfortunate that he refused an insanity defense. He belongs in a psychiatric hospital where he can get help and be prevented from hurting anyone else. The American urge to kill as a solution to every serious crime or frightening problem is very disturbing. It does not lead to the creation of a civilized and compassionate society or reduce violence, but rather exacerbates the problem of incivility and violence which is so prevalent in American society.
transiteer
“Life” had better mean every breathing moment of this Sickos pathetic Life. Never again should he see the light of day. I’ve confidence that whatever Prison he ends up in, that the population there will know how to host him.
Arnache
@jwtraveler: We’ll said. I couldn’t agree more.
Arnache
‘Well said.’ Damn autocorrect.
demented
Why do they give people “life” sentences that don’t take up their life? His poor victim didn’t get the option of parole!
Ruhlmann
We have a “Dangerous Offender” designation in Canada that potentially applies to all killers. There are two dozen killers in Canada that will never be released because they have been deemed so. Anyone proven to have specifically intended to kill as it was proven at trial with Magnotta, will never be freed.
Shanestud
Eligible for parole in 25 years does mean parole granted in 25 years. Ask Charles Manson, John Lennon’s killer Mark Chapman, or Reagan shooter John Hinckley who appear at parole hearing and are never released.
Chris
I think the life sentence is for the murder, not for what he did to the corpse afterwards.
Yes, he’s probably sick — i.e., mentally ill. But his refusal to be properly diagnosed and get treatment leave the justice system just one option.
May the victim’s family find some peace that their son’s murderer has been punished.
Raphael
@jwtraveler: Please, do not forget that Canada is also “America”, as well as all other countries south of the US, which is the correct name of the country, so do not generalize. Thank you.
jwtraveler
@Raphael: I’m sorry, but unfortunately we don’t have any other adjective to refer to our country and its people. I’m not responsible for this deficiency in the language, but I think my meaning was quite clear, so don’t be overly sensitive. Thank you.
Raphael
@jwtraveler: I didn’t mean to be rude, nor do I think my comment was “overly sensitive”, I was just being reasonable. Also I don’t think it is necessary to use an adjective, if someone wants to refer to this country, just call it by the name.
Louis
Magnotta pleaded not criminally responsible due to mental disorder, actually.
sprocket
@Raphael I hear this argument from my fellow countrymen and it’s vapid and embarrassing.
From the Canadian Oxford Dictionary: “American adj. Of America or its people; of the United states of America.”
We use words because they’re useful and many words have multiple meanings. “American” is the correct word to use in that context. What do you suggest people from the country known as United States of America call themselves? Middle North Americans?
Quite frankly, I don’t think you are being reasonable.
Raphael
@sprocket: Just North American is perfectly fine, although it would be a problem for Canadians, in any case, it’s not my fault that the country’s name makes it difficult to find an appropriate and accurate name for its citizens. For example, if France started address itself using the name of Europe only for themselves, it would not be wrong, considering the many other European countries? The case is the same, you know I’m right!