Robert Latimer: Killing daughter was 'right thing to do.'

Robert Latimer, the Saskatchewan man sentenced to life in prison for the mercy killing of his severely disabled daughter in 1993, said he would do so again if he had to in his first interview since being released from prison.

In the CBC-Radio Canada interview, Latimer, who now lives in Victoria where he must abide by strict parole rules, slammed what he considered an "inflexible and malicious" justice system that showed "a real eagerness to do as much damage to me, especially, as they possibly could."

The mercy killing of his 12-year-old daughter, Tracy, vaulted Latimer to national prominence and launched a debate over euthanasia. Tracy suffered severe pain from cerebral palsy, and could not walk, talk or feed herself. Latimer decided to end her suffering by pumping exhaust from his truck into the cab, asphyxiating Tracy.

His original jury trial convicted him of second-degree murder and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. A subsequent appeal had the sentence lessened to two years, less a day, but a final appeal to the Supreme Court upheld the original sentence.

Latimer was granted full parole in December after serving nine years of his sentence, and three years after he told a parole hearing that he still believed killing Tracy was the right thing to do.

The 58-year-old farmer told CBC and its French-language arm that his feelings remain much the same.

"People think it's a hard question, but it's not," Latimer said when asked if he would go through with the mercy killing again if he had to. "It was the right thing to do. She'd had enough."

His only regret, Latimer told CBC, was that spending nearly a decade in prison took him away from sharing time with his other children on his farm.

Latimer said he would like a retrial, with "a jury to decide (his culpability), not a bunch of shysters."