On October 24, 1993, Robert Latimer took his young daughter's life. He thought about killing her for weeks and, after mulling over many options, he finally did kill her. He then put her body back in her bed and waited until she was found by her mother, Laura. He initially denied any involvement, telling his family and the police that Tracy died in her sleep. After an initial investigation clearly pointed to homicide, Latimer admitted he killed Tracy. He was immediately arrested for first degree murder, not second degree, because he had planned it.

Under legal council, however, Latimer claimed that he had no choice but to kill Tracy because she was in "constant, excruciating pain" because of her disability. This defense was accepted in court and widely reported in the media. But necessity, as a legal defense, does not exist in Canadian law. After one trial, three appeals, and many years, Latimer was finally sentenced to ten years in jail - the mandatory minimum sentence for second degree murder. The outcry against his sentence was unprecedented in Canada.

How did Robert Latimer stay out of jail for so long? Why was his necessity defense allowed in court when it doesn't exist in law? And why, when he clearly planned his daughter's murder, was he only convicted of second degree murder rather than first degree?

Mercy Killing or Murder: The Tracy Latimer Story explores this timely and controversial topic. As medical ethics promises the elimination of disability and disease from our society, so too does it evoke concerns about eugenics and the elimination of difference and diversity among us. This production presents the extreme positions taken during Latimer's trials and offers up the voices that were seldom heard amidst the dialogue around his case: those of people with physical and developmental disabilities, just like Tracy Latimer's.

Stage Left Productions

The Canada Council for the Arts
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts
The Cerebral Palsy Association in Alberta
Anterra Properties

One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre

December, 2003
Big Secret Theatre

Poster
Cast and Crew
Press
Photographs