Yesterday, Alberta’s top court handed down its decision in the sentence appeal of the man who killed five-year-old Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents Alvin and Kathy Liknes.

Douglas Garland was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 75 years after a lengthy trial in 2017. Garland violently attacked the three victims in the Liknes home in southwest Calgary. He took them to the Garland farm in Airdrie where they were tortured, killed and dismembered. The bodies of the three were never recovered, however, some remains were located following a search of the farm.

Garland's defence team filed an appeal saying the three consecutive parole ineligibilities were "excessive and harsh." In 2019 the Alberta Court of Appeal rejected Garland's appeal of his conviction and the high court heard the appeal in June last year. 

Yesterday the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the life sentence with no chance of parole for 75 years, imposed by the trial judge as consecutive sentences.

The court also ruled Monday on a second case involving Jason Klaus and Joshua Frank, who in 2013 killed Klaus's parents, Gordon and Sandra Klaus, and sister, Monica Klaus, on a farm about 140 kilometres east of Red Deer.

The Alberta Court of Appeal found the trial judge's sentence "disproportionate and unfit," and has imposed 50-year parole ineligibility, the men will serve their sentences for Monica Klaus's killing consecutive to the parents.

Lawyers for both cases said they are awaiting instructions from their clients but anticipate they will be asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear the case.