Jason Klaus (front) and Joshua Frank (RCMP)

By Troy Gillard

Parole eligibility challenged

Crown appeal of Klaus murder sentences to be heard Tuesday

Jun 15, 2020 | 2:30 PM

The Crown’s appeal of the sentences given to two central Alberta men convicted of murdering a Castor family in 2013 is set to be heard in a Calgary courtroom on Tuesday.

In January 2018, following a lengthy trial in Red Deer, Justice Eric Macklin found Jason Klaus and Joshua Frank guilty on three counts of first degree murder.

The bodies of Klaus’s father, Gordon, and sister, Monica, were found in their burned-out farmhouse in December 2013. His mother Sandra’s body was never found but police believe she also died in the house.

Notice of the appeals claim the sentences for Jason Klaus and Joshua Frank of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years were “demonstrably unfit.”

The Crown had argued that the two men deserved the maximum of 75 years without hope of parole for what the prosecution called a contract killing of sorts.

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The Crown claims Macklin failed to properly address the principles of deterrence and denunciation as sentencing factors, and failed to consider aggravating and mitigating factors.

Tuesday’s hearing at the Court of Appeal building in Calgary is slated to get underway starting at 10:30 a.m.

Both Klaus and Frank appealed their convictions and sentences, but they were dismissed in December.