'Riverdale' actor Ryan Grantham to serve life sentence for murdering mother

ANI

Washington, September 23

Actor Ryan Grantham of 'Riverdale' fame has been sentenced to life behind bars for the murder of his mother in 2020.

According to Deadline, the by-the-book second-degree murder punishment without the possibility of parole for 14 years was given by British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker on September 21 in Vancouver.

With the sentence already a foregone conclusion over the laws of the Canadian province, the only real wild card was how long the guilty pleading Grantham would have to wait before the currently 24-year-old could apply for parole, reported Deadline.

Grantham, who is a Leo Awards nominee, turned himself in to police soon after shooting his 64-year-old mother Barbara Waite in the back of the head on March 31, 2020, in the family's Squamish home.

In a hearing earlier this year, prosecutors recommended that Grantham receive parole ineligibility up to 18 years; however, his legal team suggested that it be 12 years. Seems like Justice Ker, in her ruling this week, met them in the middle.

It later was revealed in court that Grantham took video of the body and confessed to the killing on-camera after the murder of his mother. After carefully arranging the body in a semi-religious scene a day later Grantham hit the road.

With ever-changing intent, he at one point was going to try to kill Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, as he also wrote in a journal entered as evidence. Grantham also considered committing a mass shooting at Vancouver's Simon Fraser University or on the iconic Lions Gate Bridge.

However, none of this happened as Grantham instead went to the East Vancouver cop shop and surrendered. "I killed my mother," he is reported to have bluntly declared to police at the front desk of the station.

Law enforcement officials in Vancouver confirmed to Deadline that Grantham, who was originally charged with first-degree murder, has been in custody for the past two and a half years.

With around 30 credits on his resume, Grantham noticeably played Jeffrey Augustine on the fourth season of CW's 'Riverdale' in 2019. While appearing briefly, the character had a pivotal role in the Archie comics-based show.

As per Deadline, starting his career back in 2007, Grantham also appeared in the 2010 movie 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid', as well as stints on 'Supernatural', 'iZombie' and 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'.

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