WARNING: This article contains details some readers may find disturbing. Readers’ discretion is advised. An Essex family is asking the judge for a maximum sentence in the death of their daughter. Christopher Lucas, now 27, was found guilty of second-degree murder in January for the deaths of Juliana Pannunzio, 20, and Christine Crooks, 18. Crooks was invited to a house party in Fort Erie, Ont. on Jan. 19, 2021, by Lucas. She invited Pannunzio – a newfound friend – to join. During a 40-day trial in the fall of 2025, the jury learned that Crooks was shot first in the hand. The crown theory is Pannunzio tried to help her and call 911 and she was killed for it, suffering four fatal gunshots to her head and neck. Sentencing hearing Monday At a sentencing hearing in Welland Superior Court Monday, the women’s families begged the court for the highest punishment allowable. In Canada, the sentence range for second-degree murder is 10 to 25 years of parole ineligibility. Their victim impact statements were all filled with love and grief. “A father is meant to be a hero, a protector, and a shield,” Pannunzio’s father, Mark told the judge. “When Juliana was a little girl, it was me she called upon to ward off monsters. Unfortunately, on Jan.19, 2021, she met a monster I couldn’t keep her safe from.” Pannunzio’s biological mother, Lisa Mulcaster, spoke about her grief and guilt. “Grief is the loudest silence I ever heard,” Mulcaster tearfully said. “I question every decision and every interaction and I find fault. I did everything wrong. I must have, because she’s no longer here.” “Darkness has invaded our once happy house,” Garbriel Pannunzio told the court. He was just 11 years old when his older sister was killed. “My parents don’t know this but there have been many times I didn’t want my new friends to visit our home,” Pannunzio said. “There are too many obvious signs, like pictures and my sister’s shrine-like room. I don’t want to answer all those questions.” “Our grief is ever lasting,” Shellie Pannunzio, Juliana’s ‘bonus mom’ explained to the court. “After all this time, the five years spent in court, and the countless witness testimonies filled with lies, we continue to seek answers and deserve justice.” Pannunzio looked right at Lucas in the offender box to conclude her statement. “We will never have true justice because we will never have (Juliana) back in our lives. The best we can hope for is accountability. And Christopher Lucas, that starts with you,” she said to him. Crown seeks maximum penalty Assistant Crown attorney Jody Ostapiw asked Justice James Ramsey to sentence Lucas to a period of parole ineligibility of 25 years. “The community of Niagara is asking you (Justice Ramsey) to deter gun violence that bleeds here from the GTA,” Ostapiw said Monday. “Leave your guns at home” Ostapiw argued Lucas: Ostapiw reminded the judge nine of the 12 jurors recommended a sentence of 25 years after they found Lucas guilty. Three jurors abstained from a recommendation. Consecutive sentences are no longer constitutional in Canada, because of a 2022 Supreme Court decision. Ostapiw believes a concurrent sentence of 25 years takes both victims’ deaths into account, along with the aggravating factors in the murder. “These girls were not getting out of there alive,” Ostapiw concluded. Defence seeks 18 years Defence lawyer Neil Fitzmaurice asked the judge for a sentence of 18 years. He argued there is no legal precedence for a sentence of 25 years for second-degree murder; even before a landmark decision in 2022, in which the Supreme Court ruled consecutive life sentences for murder are unconstitutional. Fitzmaurice argued the judge has no legal precedence to increase the sentence because they are concurrent as opposed to consecutive. He also reminded the judge the case has no element of planning as it all happened “extremely rapidly”, in less than a minute. Lucas, the defence argued, always felt the need to arm himself because of his background and upbringing where he learned to distrust police at a young age. Lucas is an immigrant to Canada from Congo, who grew up in a violent Toronto neighbourhood surrounded by gangs. If he is paroled, Lucas is likely to face deportation even though there is currently a moratorium on deportations to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Lucas ‘dangerous’: Judge Justice James Ramsey sentenced Lucas to 22 years in prison late Monday afternoon. “What strikes me worthy of most weight in this case is the taking of not one, but two lives, the quick resort to lethal force for trivial reasons in the first instance and the cold and calculating nature of the second killing, together with the fact that it was aimed at a potential justice system participant,” the judge said. He found Pannunzio was likely killed because she was the only person at the party that night willing to call 911 for help. “That, to me, is the only reasonable inference,” the judge wrote. “(Lucas) could trust all 13 of the remaining guests. All 13 were called by the Crown and all 13 perjured themselves to protect the accused.” He called Lucas “dangerous” who’s actions showed a “chilling indifference to life.” The judge dismissed Lucas’ claim that he was treated differently by police because he is black. “I think that record shows that if they treated him differently, it was because he was armed and violent,” the judge wrote. Lucas has three adult convictions for assault – two on a peace officer and one on an inmate, and he was out on probation at the time of the murders. “The offender is resistant to authority,” the judge concluded. “He will never be paroled unless things change.” Lucas can only apply for parole in 22 years. There is no guarantee he will be released.
