Quebec mosque shooter's sentencing hearing to debate cumulative sentences

QUEBEC—The sentencing hearing of Quebec City mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette will debate the constitutionality of the section of the Criminal Code that allows for consecutive sentences. Bissonnette, 28, pleaded guilty earlier this year to six charges of first-degree murder and six of attempted murder after he walked into a mosque in the provincial capital in January 2017 and opened fire. On Tuesday, the Crown formally sought a 150-year jail sentence for Bissonnette. A single first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years but the trial judge could multiply Bissonnette's sentence by the number of people he killed and order a prison term of 150 years. On Monday, Bissonnette's lawyer portrayed his client as an anxious and fragile man and suggested he be eligible for parole after 25 years. The defence has described consecutive sentences—a part of the code since 2011—as unconstitutional and invalid.