Ontario man pleads guilty to killing tattoo store owner after conviction overturned [Video]

Ten years after tattoo store owner Wasfi Ghalban was fatally stabbed in a home invasion robbery inside his Wellesley Street apartment, Lance Burkhard, one of two men responsible for the deadly scuffle, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Wednesday.

The guilty plea comes eight months after the Court of Appeal overturned Burkhard’s conviction for first-degree murder and ordered a new trial.

Ontario’s highest court found the trial judge failed to properly instruct the jury. Burkhard has been behind bars since his arrest on March 31, 2016, and was found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder in December 2018.

Burkhard had been serving life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Second-degree murder means a parole ineligibility period between 10 and 25 years. Defence lawyers John Struthers and Deniz Sarikaya are asking for an 11-year period before parole ineligibility, whereas Crown prosecutor Scott Patterson is suggesting 15 years.

According to an agreed …