Convicted Calgary killer Samere Mehari inched a little closer Monday towards his faint hope for early freedom. Read More
Noteworthy legal cases in Calgary and area from June 2 to 6, 2025
Noteworthy legal cases in Calgary and area from June 2 to 6, 2025
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Convicted Calgary killer Samere Mehari inched a little closer Monday towards his faint hope for early freedom.
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Crown prosecutor Peter Mackenzie and defence lawyer Kim Ross appeared before Court of King’s Bench Justice Blair Nixon to set some filing deadlines in Mehari’s application to have a jury determine if his parole ineligibility should be reduced.
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The lawyers need to file submissions to the judge so he can conduct a judicial review of Mehari’s chances of a successful application.
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If Nixon finds Mehari has a reasonable chance of success, he will order a hearing before a jury to determine if the killer’s current parole ineligibility of 25 years should be reduced.
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Although the Criminal Code provision for such “faint-hope” hearings was abolished by Parliament, anyone sentenced to life without parole for more than 15 years before Dec. 2, 2011, remains eligible to make such an application.
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Mehari was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a minimum 25 years by since-retired Justice Sandy Park on March 12, 2010, after finding him guilty of first-degree murder in the Aug. 18, 2008, fatal shooting of rival drug dealer Efrom Kuflom.
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In finding Kuflom’s killing was a planned and deliberate murder, Park said the fatal shooting in a Beltline alley “was the equivalent of an assassination.”
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Kuflom was shot once in the chest shortly before noon that day as he turned his car into an alley behind a Tim Hortons coffee shop.
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The murder and the moments leading up to the killing were captured on two different security cameras, one showing an individual lying in wait.
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During the 3½-minute footage, the gunman, whom Park found to be Mehari, could be seen donning a mask and pulling his firearm from a backpack before pouncing. A second camera showed the killer leaving his hiding spot and approaching Kuflom’s car before firing on the deceased.
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Nixon asked Mackenzie to provide the entire transcripts of the trial before Park and copies of exhibits entered during the hearing.
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The prosecutor also indicated he had a victim impact statement filed at the time of Mehari’s sentencing, but he has not had any recent substantial contact with the family.