Erick Buhr will be ineligible to apply for parole for 17 years after he was found guilty of the second-degree murder of his grandmother, Viola Erb.
Buhr was found guilty of second-degree murder on Nov. 4, a verdict that carries an automatic life sentence. He was originally set to be sentenced on Jan. 27, but the hearing was pushed back due to a scheduling issue.
Buhr finally learned his fate in a court room on Tuesday.
Justice Gerry Taylor’s decision fell in line with the recommendation from the Crown. He said Buhr had shown no remorse for his grandmother’s death.
“Viola Erb’s life was terminated by an extreme act of violence and for no reason,” Justice Taylor said.
Buhr represented himself during sentencing. He continues to maintain his innocence.
“I just want to say to my family that I share your pain,” he said. “I’m left without grandma as well.”
Buhr asked for parole eligibility after 12 years and proposed a 3-to-1 credit for the approximately 29 months he’s already spent behind bars.
“That is a proposition which I have never heard of before,” Justice Taylor responded.
In addition to his life sentence, Buhr will be required to provide a DNA sample. He is also facing a firearms ban and an order prohibiting him from contacting 21 of Viola Erb’s family members.
Victim impact statements
One of Erb’s sons, Darryl, described her as a pillar to everyone who knew her.
As some victim impact statements were read aloud , the court was told her violent death tore the family apart.
“She was my world and I was hers,” a statement from Erick Buhr’s mother, Karen Erb, said. She told the court she lost both her son and her mother in the same day.
She added while she will never truly know what happened that day, she says her son’s addiction to drugs is to blame for her mother’s death.
“I know you didn’t choose to murder your grandmother, but drugs did,” she said.
During the trial, Buhr took the stand in his own defence and testified that he had been in a forested area behind the house, sitting on a log and smoking cocaine, before he went inside and found his grandmother badly injured.
He was on house arrest at the time of Viola’s murder. Court heard for the first time that was his sentence for a sexual interference conviction in June 2022.
In another victim impact statement read aloud by the Crown, Warren Erb, Viola’s nephew, said she was killed by someone she cherished and trusted.
“This murder has devastated her family,” he wrote.
That devastation was one of the factors raised by Crown Prosecutor Jennifer Caskie during her sentencing submissions. She said Viola was defenseless against the attack, which she described as ‘prolonged’ and ‘brutal.’
Caskie noted in court that while Buhr may be eligible to apply for parole at that time, whether it is actually granted will be a decision for the Parole Board of Canada.
