The 24-year-old actor read a statement in a clear and emotional voice to the BC Supreme Court on the third and final day of his conviction for the second-degree murder of Barbara Waite. “I can not explain or justify my actions. I have no excuse,” Grantham said. “It hurts me to think about how badly I have wasted my life.” “In the face of something so horrible, saying sorry is so pointless. But from every fiber of my being, I’m sorry,” he said. Grantham shot Waite in the back of the head as she played the piano at their Squamish Mansion on March 31, 2020. The next day, he picked up his car with weapons, ammunition, 12 Molotov cocktails and a map of the Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, with idea to drive there to assassinate Prime Minister Justin Trinto. The second-degree murder is accompanied by an automatic sentence of life imprisonment. The issue is how long Grantham is eligible to apply for release. Grantham’s defense is seeking a 12-year term, while Crown has requested 17 to 18 years of ineligibility.
Homicidal and suicidal impulses
The court heard that Grantham was in decline in the months leading up to his homicide, was depressed, had homicides and suicides, and spent a lot of time online and smoking marijuana. Defense attorney Chris Johnson said these were two key issues: Grantham’s credibility and the risk of future risk. He said that mental illness played a role in Grantham’s behavior and that he felt significant remorse. “At the time of the crime, this murder was not done out of hatred or hostility, it was because of Mr. Grantham’s disturbed thinking, to prevent his mother from seeing what he thought he was going to do,” Johnson said. Earlier in the hearing, the court heard disturbing details about the murder. Grantham, who is an experienced sniper and gun owner, attempted to kill her the previous few days by walking behind Waite with a 0.22 caliber rifle, pointing it at her, but stopped without pulling the trigger. On the day of the murder, he loaded and unloaded the gun several times and then sat on the steps of the mansion for almost 15 minutes, thinking about what to do before proceeding to kill his mother. A four-minute video recorded by Grantham on a GoPro camera was then presented in court. In it, Grantham confesses and shows his mother’s body. The next day, after covering his body with a sheet and arranging lighted candles around him, he set off for Ottawa. He went as far as Hope, BC, where he turned his thoughts to killing people at Simon Fraser University – where it was written – on the Lions Gate Bridge, or elsewhere. He was finally handed over to the police. The defense presented a series of letters of support, including one from Grantham’s estranged father, who left the family when Grantham was a child. Johnson said the court should consider his age – he was 21 at the time of the murder – that he had no previous criminal record, that he had surrendered, fully confessed and pleaded guilty. In his testimony in court, Grantham said that for the past 25 months in prison, he has been seeking counseling to help deal with his emotional and psychological problems. “One day, if I ever get out of prison, I hope to continue on this path of self-improvement,” he said. Grantham was initially charged with first-degree murder but later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in March. Judge Kathleen Ker has reserved the decision for a future date. Grantham has starred in film and television since he was nine years old. His titles include TV series shot in BC, including Riverdale, Supernatural and iZombie, and the films Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
