Problem
Tracy Latimer, a 12-year-old victim of cerebral paisy, was killed by her father in 1993. Tracy lived with her family on a prairie farm in Sasketchewan, Canada. On a Sunday morning while his wife and other children were at church, Robert Latimer put Tracy in the cab of his pickup truck and piped in exhaust fumes until she died. Mrs.Latimer said that she was relieved to see Tracy dead when she arrived home and added that she "didn't have the courage" to do it herself.
In his defense, it may be replied that Tracy's condition was so catastrophic that she had no prospects of a "life" in any but a biological sense. Her existence had been reduced to nothing but pointless suffering, so that killing her was an act of mercy.
Legal questions aside did Mr. Latimer did anything wrong?