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Mark Moore sentenced to life in prison for deadly 2010 shootings

Mark Moore sentenced to life in prison for deadly 2010 shootings

A Toronto man who was found guilty of killing four men in a string of 2010 shootings has been sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years.

Mark Moore was found guilty in May of four counts of first-degree murder, after he pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A judge sentenced the 30-year-old Moore to life imprisonment on each count. He will not be eligible for parole until he has served 25 years behind bars.

Since the sentence in each case is life imprisonment, the sentence cannot be served consecutively, Justice Michael Dambrot said in his ruling.

"The unimaginable triviality of the motive for at least three of the murders, the offender's determination to show himself to be an authentic gangster who shakes the streets, bespeaks a man who is so morally depraved, and so utterly lacking in humanity, that the 25 year minimum for parole eligibility is far more than justified," Dambrot said.

"The offender is a monster who has no heart, who is selfish and cruel and who was only thinking of himself and the 'stardom' he hoped to gain."

Moore maintains innocence

Moore read a statement maintaining his innocence and said he will appeal the convictions.

"The jury never heard of any real connection from me to any of the victims or any clear reasonable motives for these murders," he said.

He also called the judge's instruction for the jury "questionable."

He described himself as a young man who loves making music, and said he was pursuing a post-secondary education at Seneca College.

The string of shootings began when Jahmeel Spence, 27, was shot dead in September 2010 near his mother-in-law's house in Toronto's east-end.

Later that month, Mike James, 23, and Courthney Facey, 18, died in an apparent drive-by shooting, slain by bullets fired from the same gun.

In November of that year, Carl Cole, 45, was shot to death with that same handgun.

Dambrot said Moore did not know Spence, James or Facey, but he knew Cole "at least to some small degree." Dambrot also described all four killings are premeditated and have "devastating and profound consequences" to the families of the victims, which justified the life sentence.

Emotional victim impact statements

Family members and friends of the four victims packed the courtroom to deliver emotional victim impact statements.

Cole's twin sister Janet Cole called the killing of her brother "brutal, gruesome, and monstrous."

"You have taken away a connection that only a twin can truly understand," she said. "No more twin feelings, no more I love you's, no more laughter is felt or will ever be heard."

Beverley Francis, mother of Spence, said she visited the scene of her son's death every day since the killing.

"I just know that I needed to be up there," she said. "In a strange way it gave me some comfort."

Joanna Simmons, mother of James, recounted the day she gave birth to her first child who had "bright innocent eyes."

"There are days when I don't have the strength to get out of bed knowing I've lost my first baby boy," she said.

Facey's mother Cindy Bonnick said she couldn't write a victim impact statement. She was one of many family members who walked out of the courtroom when Moore gave his statement.

"I was not about to hear what he had to say because it had no interest to me," she said. "For me he was just looking for attention and I wasn't going to give it to him."