Appeal court cuts 7 years off Pond Inlet killer’s parole wait
Tommy Mucpa serving life sentence for murdering aunt in 2017
A man convicted of murdering his aunt in 2017 has had his parole eligibility reduced by seven years in a Nunavut Court of Appeal decision released this week. (File photo)
A man imprisoned for life for killing his aunt saw the appeal of his conviction denied but his wait for parole eligibility reduced this week in a decision handed down by the Nunavut Court of Appeal.
Tommy Mucpa is serving a life sentence for the second-degree murder of his aunt, Dorcas Erkloo, in a tent outside Pond Inlet on July 3, 2017.
He was 25 at the time of the crime.
He was found guilty by Justice Paul Bychok on June 21, 2022, following a judge-only trial sentenced to life in prison without parole eligibility for 20 years.
But Mucpa appealed both the conviction and sentence in May 2024, arguing his Charter rights were breached and that the judge failed to assess whether Mucpa had the specific intent to kill his aunt. Mucpa also argued Bychok made a mistake in imposing a 20-year period before he could apply for parole.
While the three appeal court justices Dawn Pentelechuk, Suzanne Duncan and Alice Woolley acknowledged in their Oct. 21 written decision that Mucpa’s Charter rights were breached when his criminal record was introduced during a voir dire appearance, the judges said the error was “harmless and did not result in a substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice.”
The judges were also satisfied by Bychok’s decision that Mucpa had a specific intent for murder. They ruled against the appeal to overturn the second-degree murder conviction.
They did, however, agree that Bychok made an “error in principle” when imposing a 20-year parole ineligibility.
Bychok should have taken Mucpa’s long-term mental health issues into consideration when determining how long he would have to wait to apply for parole, the decision said.
The judges agreed to reduce his parole eligibility to 13 years.
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