McDonald's murderer granted day passes

One of the men convicted in the McDonald's restaurant murders inSydney River, N.S.,15 years ago has been granted temporary passes from prison, an outrage tohis victim's family.

Darren Muise wassentenced in 1993 to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 20 years for killing Neil Burroughs in a botched robbery a year earlier.

Burroughs was shot, stabbed and beaten. Two other McDonald's employees were killed and one permanently injured.

At a recent hearing, the National Parole Board granted Muise 16 short visits outside the prison over the next year. He can't be gone for more than 12 hours and must be escorted by corrections officials.

Cathy Sellers, Burroughs's sister, was in Quebec for the parole hearing last week. She's angry that Muise is getting out of prison, however briefly.

"He was given 20 years," Sellers said, "and 14 years after the fact we have to deal with him getting parole already? It's ludicrous. Our justice system needs to be changed."

Theparole boarddenied a temporary parole pass to Muise in 2005.

Muiseis one of three men convicted in the killings. Freeman MacNeil and Derek Wood are both serving life sentences for first-degree murder and are not eligible for parole for 25 years.