Michael Briere is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 convicted of rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

 and murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

.

Originally from Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, in 2003 Briere lived in downtown Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, where he worked as a software developer. On May 12, 2003 he kidnapped Holly Maria Jones, a 10-year-old girl who happened to be walking past his house as she returned home from a friend's house that evening. He called her over to his house, kidnapped her, sexually assaulted

Sexual assault

Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....

 and strangled her. After dismembering her body, he attempted to discard the remains by placing them in two bags and used weights to try and sink them in the Toronto Harbour; however, the bags were found the next morning on May 13th, 2003.
Briere was initially suspected by police for refusing to provide a DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 sample when they conducted a wide-scale request for samples from all men in the area where Jones had gone missing. He was arrested and charged with her murder on June 20, 2003.

Briere pleaded guilty to the crime, which he then described as "cruel, inhuman, and nightmarish," claiming he wished to spare his victim's family the pain of a trial. He received an automatic life sentence and will not be eligible to apply for parole

Parole

Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...

 for 25 years.

In court, he attributed his actions to viewing child pornography

Child pornography

Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...

, a claim which resulted in considerable public debate about pornography

Pornography

Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...

in Canada.