There may be a change to Ryan Grantham's reality behind bars.
The former Riverdale actor was recently sentenced to life in prison in Canada with the possibility of parole in 14 years, after he pled guilty in the 2020 murder of his mother, Barbara Waite.
Now that the sentence has been decided, Grantham's lead counsel Chris Johnson exclusively tells E! News that while the case "is completed now," there is a request they plan to seek.
Johnson says in a Sept. 27 statement, "The lawyers plan to send a request to the director of prisons asking to them consider sending Ryan to a medium security facility instead of a max security facility."
While the question of which facility Grantham will be placed in remains a potential changing factor, Talia Armstrong, a Junior Defense Lawyer on Grantham's team, exclusively tells E! News that there is sense of relief for Grantham now that he has received his sentence.
"Ryan’s been anticipating the sentencing for quite some time so there was somewhat a relief to not have to be back in court, to know what he’s up against for the next couple years and just to have the sentence complete at this point," Armstrong says. "We finished our submissions in June of this year and we didn’t get the [sentencing] decision until September, so during that time Ryan was quite anxious to find out what the sentence would be."
During the sentencing hearing in June, prosecutors said Grantham shot his mother in the back of her head at their home in March 2020, per reporter Karin Larsen of CBC News, who virtually attended the hearing. Grantham then filmed a video of himself where he confessed to the murder.
Per Larsen, prosecutors said Grantham got in his car the next day with a plot to kill Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. However, Grantham turned the vehicle around with a plan to commit mass violence at Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge or Simon Fraser University. He did not go through with it. Later that evening, he went to the Vancouver police, where he told an officer, "I killed my mother."
During his Sept. 20 sentencing, Grantham was also issued a lifetime firearm ban. Both the life sentence and the firearm prohibition are mandatory for second-degree murder in British Columbia, as noted in a statement obtained by E! News on Sept. 22 from BC Prosecution Services.
While Grantham's crime carries an automatic sentence of life in prison under the law, per BC Prosecution Services, the Sept. 20 decision determined how long he will have to serve before he is eligible to apply for parole. As for how Grantham feels about the result, Armstrong weighed in on his feelings.
"This whole time he’s been accepting of whatever sentence the court found fit, which ties into how remorseful he feels," Armstrong tells E! News. "He was willing to accept the maximum of 25 years before applying for parole, but of course he’s grateful that he’ll be able to apply for parole after 14 years."
On the topic of what Grantham hopes to accomplish beyond his sentence, Armstrong shares, "Ultimately, he just wants to move on from this."
"He just wants to be able to positively contribute to the world, even if that's just improving his own mental health," Armstrong says. "He's doing a lot of writing, he's reading a lot and he just wants to move past this dark time in his life and into something more positive."