Makes me want to regurgitate

[Kip Powick]

All Ron Girard could do upon hearing convicted killer Gregory McMaster had been awarded yet another pile of money from Corrections Canada was shake his head.

McMaster, who has been locked up for the last 33 years for killing four people during a six-day binge of violence in August 1978, reached an out-of-court settlement with Corrections Canada last week.

He claimed prison guards at Fenbrook Institution, near Gravenhurst, put his life at risk two years ago by circulating to other inmates a Toronto Sun article calling McMaster a “serial killer.”

McMaster argued he had never been referred to as a serial killer in court. And his lawyer, John Hill, said Fenbrook’s guards did it to incite bad blood between McMaster and the other inmates.

It was his second successful claim against Corrections Canada,

Girard’s 19-year-old brother, Marcel, was murdered after being picked up by McMaster while hitchhiking from his hometown of Bonfield, Ont. McMaster had already killed two others before crossing paths with Marcel.

“I don’t know how (anybody) can recognize (McMaster’s) rights and give him any kind of settlement,” said Girard.

After McMaster shot Girard’s brother, he fled west to Manitoba, then south through the Canada-U.S. border into Minnesota. It was there he used a .22 automatic rifle to pump 10 bullets into Roseau County sheriff deputy Richard Magnusson, killing the 20-year-old rookie officer.

Margaret Magnusson, 84, remembers clearly the day her son was killed, and is “disgusted” to think his killer is being awarded money from the very people punishing him.

“I’m disgusted to think he gets away with that,” said Magnusson from her home in International Falls, Minn. “I feel that money should go to food shelters or something, rather than him. He doesn’t deserve anything like that.”

Calls to McMaster’s lawyer, John Hill, were not returned.

A spokesman for Corrections Canada remained tight-lipped on details of the settlement, including how much McMaster received, citing a confidentiality clause in the legal agreement.

McMaster won another lawsuit against Corrections Canada two years ago after claiming prison officials didn’t provide him with specialty running shoes for a knee injury he sustained in 2004.

[conehead]

It sounds like he never answered for his crimes in the United States. He may have received some justice there.