More than eight years after Philip Grandine killed his pregnant wife by drugging her with a sedative before she took a bath so he could talk to his mistress and freely use pornography, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, a judge found Tuesday.

As a result of being secretly drugged by her rage-filled husband — a violent assault she never saw coming — Karissa Grandine, 29 and 20-weeks pregnant, drowned in a bathtub in the couple’s home on the night of Oct. 17, 2011, said Superior Court Justice Faye McWatt.

Grandine, now 33, was convicted of manslaughter last year after a second jury trial, which followed his successful appeal of an earlier manslaughter conviction. He has almost 12 years in prison left but whether he will begin serving that time now is up to a Court of Appeal judge.

Hours after Grandine was sentenced he had a bail hearing in which his lawyer Michael Lacy argued a serious legal error was committed during his trial. The jury was allowed to consider three ways to find Grandine guilty, one of which, Lacy said, was based on no evidence even according to the trial judge’s own sentencing decision. This meant the jury verdict was unjust and can’t stand, he argued.

The Crown argued the appeal was frivolous since there was evidence and that, given the seriousness of the crime and length of the sentence as well as two juries finding Grandine guilty of manslaughter, it was time the sentence be enforced pending appeal.

A decision on whether Grandine will be let out on bail will be released at a future date.

Thirty-three victim impact statements were filed by Karissa’s family, friends and church members who remembered a relentlessly positive, generous woman who worked hard to obtain a university degree while working full-time, and who forgave her husband even after she discovered he had been cheating on her.

Her mother and sister attended both the sentencing hearing and the bail hearing. Given the ongoing appeal, the family’s ordeal will continue, family friend Cliff McDowell said.

“They have to relive this horrible thing over again. There’s no closure today. There’s no rest for the family today. And this monster gets to play the system again,” he said.

Karissa — who was overjoyed to be pregnant and was working on repairing their marriage — had no idea what her husband was capable of, McWatt said in her ruling Tuesday.

“This was an assault and act of violence generated directly from the anger Mr. Grandine bore towards Mrs. Grandine,” McWatt said. “She could not have avoided the assaults. She could not see the weapon used against her.”

McWatt noted that Grandine researched the sedative lorazepam and obtained some from the long-term care home where he worked as a nurse-manager. He then “experimented” with the drug, testing it out twice on his pregnant wife — despite the fact it is not to be used by pregnant women — and once on himself. It made her sick and groggy enough that she went to the hospital.

He gave a therapeutic-level dose of the sedative to her again on the night of Oct. 17, 2011, before she took a bath, knowing how seriously she was affected by the drug. While he didn’t intend to kill her, his actions were “diabolical and violent. It was planned and premeditated,” McWatt said.

“In committing this offence, he did perpetrate a form of emotional and physical violence on his wife,” she said. After drugging his wife, McWatt found, he was on the phone with his mistress. He also uninstalled a pornography blocker on their home computer that had been put there after Karissa found out about the affair and his “obsession” with pornography.

The couple had been going to marriage counselling through their church, where Grandine had been a pastor, but while Karissa thought they were working to save their marriage, Grandine had been “seething with anger,” McWatt said.

“The defendant was enamoured with both (his mistress) and with pornography. On the occasions in which his wife was incapacitated, the way for him to pursue both these fascinations was cleared and unimpeded,” McWatt wrote in her ruling on the facts of the case.

His actions after discovering his wife had died were callous and an attempt to cover up his crime, McWatt said. He made an “unconvincing” 911 call and lied to police about his attempts to rescue his wife as she drowned in the bathtub, despite his medical training. He also claimed he was out jogging that night.

Given these facts, the case comes closer to murder that most other manslaughter cases, McWatt found.

Prosecutor Donna Kellway argued a prison sentence of 13 to 15 years would be appropriate. The defence said it should be a period of five to seven years because the facts don’t involve physical violence. Justice McWatt did not accept this suggestion and emphasized that domestic abuse can include both physical and emotional violence.

Tuesday’s ruling concluded Grandine’s second sentencing for the manslaughter of his wife.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Grandine was initially charged with first-degree murder but after a jury trial was found guilty of manslaughter. Grandine appealed the verdict and remained on bail pending appeal during that time. The appeal was granted due to errors in the way the trial judge answered a question from the jury and he had a new trial on the charge of manslaughter. He was found guilty for a second time last year.

Grandine has served 300 days of pretrial custody and spent six years on house arrest. He got a total credit of 37 months for that time and has 11 years and 11 months left to serve.

Grandine was handcuffed in the courtroom and taken into custody. He did not look back at the courtroom.