could justify homicide, and at any rate found Tracy's death was worse than the pain Tracy might have felt during life. Jury nullification The court went on to reject the argument that the trial was unfair because the chances of jury nullification were impaired by the judge. As the court argued, there is no right to a trial in which one's chances of jury nullification are not impaired. Indeed, the justice system is not supposed to advocate jury nullification. Moreover, the judge's apparent suggestion that the jury might have some influence in determining the sentence was not considered misleading or unfair because, while juries cannot decide sentences, they can indeed make recommendations. Section 12 Finally, the court rejected the argument that the minimum ten-year sentence might be so long as to be cruel and unusual and thus unconstitutional under section 12 of the Charter. Since a section 12 test demands consideration of the seriousness of the crime, the court pointed out that the crime led to the "most serious of all possible consequences, namely, the death of the victim, Tracy Latimer". Consideration of the mens rea of the offence therefore guided the court to argue that even though Latimer had been convicted of second as opposed to first-degree murder, "second degree murder is an offence accompanied by an extremely high degree of criminal culpability". At this point, the court, in balancing other factors in the case, namely how Mr. Latimer had planned his crime and did not regret it, and conversely, how he was distressed over Tracy's condition and was otherwise respected, did not find that any of the positive factors outweighed the crime. Moreover, the punishment was also considered by the court to be valid because it might discourage others from taking similar actions. References External links Supreme Court of Canada cases Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms case law 2001 in Canadian case law Euthanasia law Canadian criminal case law Jury nullification