Former CFL player convicted of ex-girlfriend's murder won't be eligible for parole for 14 years

A former professional football player who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend will not be eligible for parole for 14 years.

A former professional football player who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend will not be eligible for parole for 14 years.

Joshua Boden, who once played with the Canadian Football League as a wide receiver, learned his sentence in a Vancouver courtroom on Friday.

Family and friends of the victim, Kimberly Hallgarth, sat in the front row of the courtroom gallery, at times crying and hugging one another.

Outside court, Hallgarth’s brother Jamie Errand said while nothing will bring his sister back, they are satisfied with the sentence.

“I’m very happy with the judge’s decision today. I think it was firm and fair,” he said. “The lack of remorse and admittance to the crime is really not that great, however that’s not me that has to live with that, that’s somebody else.”

Second-degree murder convictions come with an automatic life sentence in B.C., so it was up to the judge to determine when Boden would be eligible for parole. The Crown asked for 15 years, while Boden's legal team suggested 12 years.

Boden, 35, was found guilty last year of the second-degree murder of Hallgarth. The 33-year-old was killed in 2009 in the Burnaby, B.C., home she shared with her three-year-old daughter.