Mr. Big (29 page)

Jennifer stayed in the office until she felt strong enough to face the courtroom again. Especially Nelson's mother. In her heart, Jennifer was afraid that Nelson had killed the girls. Why else had he said he had something in the back of his mind he would take to the grave? Why did he tell that man he did it? But before Jennifer could think about anything else, Nelson's mother was by her side.

“Don't you worry. They trapped him into saying that.”

Jennifer no longer had the energy to talk about it. She just wanted to go home.

102

“Is Nelson going to testify?” Jennifer asked Nelson's mother.

“He's afraid he's going to have a seizure. He'll do it, but not in front of the courtroom. You know how nervous he gets in front of a crowd. He'll probably have a seizure for sure.”

Judge Wayne Diamond had actually offered Nelson a screen to block out the crowd. He had also offered to have a doctor present in the courtroom while Nelson testified. But the judge wasn't about to let him testify in private, because he had lied about his seizures in the past to get more money from social services. He'd also lied about seizures to keep his driver's licence.

In the end, Nelson didn't want to testify.

But Jennifer believed there was another reason he didn't want to testify. She believed he wouldn't be able to lie in front of a big crowd. She also believed he was afraid that people would see through his story.

103

Guilty.

Jennifer couldn't believe it. She started to shake. All she wanted to do was run from this place. And that is exactly what she did. She ran out into the lobby so she could shed her tears in peace. Now, more than ever, she was convinced that Nelson's mother was right. There was no way he could have ever done this.

A few minutes later and the crowd began to pour out of the courtroom. Jennifer couldn't remember ever seeing Nelson's mother so mad. And so was she. What if they had set Nelson up? Now he would go to prison for an automatic life sentence of twenty-five years.

Nelson's mother reached out to her, and together they retreated to an office.

“This is not fair,” Jennifer cried. “He didn't do this.”

One of the clerks opened the door. “It's time to go back in,” she said.

Inside the courtroom, Nelson was preparing to say a few words.

“I was told not to go against the crime boss,” he said. “I tried to tell him the truth, but he didn't believe that.”

Jennifer was exhausted. As the crowd began to leave the courtroom, she followed.

Outside, a crowd of reporters were interviewing Nelson's lawyer. They waited until the interview was over and then went outside. Jennifer had nothing to say to the cameras and microphones, but Nelson's mother had plenty to say.

“There's a lot about this story that's not right,” she said. “My son faces a grim future behind bars.”

Jennifer already knew that his mother was going to be fighting the decision all the way. Nelson's lawyer made it clear they would be appealing.

His mother continued to make her case in front of the reporters as Jennifer listened in.

Finally, the questions came to an end, and she was relieved to be sitting in the quiet of the car. Except Nelson's mother wasn't going to be quiet about this verdict at all. All the way home, she talked about how they would fight to have him released from jail.

Jennifer went back to Mrs. Hart's, and for the rest of the night she listened to the endless phone calls and questions from people who had watched the results of the trial on the evening news. Nelson's mother had the same story for each of them. Her son was innocent and she was going to put things straight.

Even though she had never felt so exhausted in her life, there was no sleep at all for Jennifer that night.

104

The next morning, Nelson's mother made breakfast for Jennifer. But each bite of toast was nearly impossible to swallow.

“I just need to go home right now and get things straightened out.” But all she really wanted was to be alone. She was tired of talking about Nelson, tired of listening to the constant ranting about him being framed.

Even though Jennifer had stood by Nelson and his mother throughout the trial, there was still a part of her that questioned whether or not Nelson was guilty. She quickly put the thought out of her mind, packed her bags, and headed for home.

Everything seemed different to her this morning. She felt like her ears were ringing from the weeks of being in the courtroom and listening to her mother-in-law. And as soon as things were quiet, she began questioning the voices she was hearing in her own head. By the time she made it halfway home, she had a splitting headache.

When she finally got back to the apartment, she went straight to the cupboard to grab a couple of Tylenol, and then she lay down. At this moment she didn't care if she ever moved again.

Jennifer had missed having a telephone at the apartment, but right now she was glad no one could reach her. She knew the media from right across the country were trying to find her, and she certainly had no interest in hearing from Nelson right now.

Two days after the sentencing, he had been transferred to the penitentiary in St. John's, and Jennifer knew he was having a hard time. He claimed the guards didn't like him there.

As much as she pitied him for everything he was going through inside, Jennifer was battling her own demons.

Then there were the lawyers. He believed the legal aid lawyers weren't capable of representing him from day one. Halfway through the trial, he even talked about firing Mr. Hogan. Jennifer didn't know which lawyer would end up fighting the appeal, but she had spent enough time thinking about the trial for now.

For two full weeks she didn't leave the apartment, until one morning she woke up and knew something wasn't right.

As she made her way to the bathroom, she got dizzy. So light-headed, in fact, she had to sit on the floor. Then her world went dark to the extent she wondered if she was going blind. But with no one around to help her, she had to wait out the symptoms until she felt well enough to go the doctor.

“It looks like you've had a mini-stroke,” he told her. “No doubt, Jennifer, you've been under a lot of pressure, and you're going to have to start relaxing. If not, you could very well end up back here with a much more severe stroke.”

105

As the weeks turned into months, there were fewer trips to see the Harts.

Nelson had become agitated, and fighting the appeal was nearly impossible because he wanted to change lawyers every time progress was made. Each time Nelson demanded a new lawyer, his mother went to work to try and help him.

But Jennifer was finding him more difficult to deal with these days. He was accusing her of working for the police. He believed she was trying to get information against him, and he even started refusing the money she was sending to him. He told her the guards were giving him a hard time, and he believed they had bugged his cell.

He was angry, and Jennifer couldn't take much more. She was expecting any day he would kill himself.

With Nelson's unstable mental condition, an effort was put under way to give Jennifer power of attorney. But she no longer wanted anything to do with his appeal. The more time passed, the more she was convinced he was guilty.

Since the sentencing, she had found it increasingly difficult to be so far away from the girls. As soon as Nelson returned to prison, she moved back to Gander to be closer to them. And just as her life began to settle, she got another call that would change things forever.

“Jennifer, it's Dad,” said Penny. “He . . . it happened this morning.”

Jennifer had known her father was complaining about feeling sick all week, but there was no way to prepare for the shocking news.

When she thought there were no tears left to cry, Jennifer began to cry and struggled to hang on to the receiver.

Her father had been suffering gallbladder problems, and he was supposed to have surgery to have it removed. However, he cancelled the appointment, thinking it would go away on its own. But his gallbladder had been on the verge of rupturing all along.

“He got up this morning and had two spoonfuls of soup and a slice of bread,” Penny explained. “Then he went back to bed, and the next thing we knew he was gone.”

106

At the same time Jennifer lost her father, another man came into her life. It was a taxi driver named Scott, who gave Jennifer hope that she could go back to having a normal, happy life.

The two of them hit it off right away, and their friendship soon turned to a relationship. After the years of struggling with Nelson, she had never realized someone could treat her so well.

When she suffered a back injury, he was there whenever he had a break. He fixed her meals and helped her with the simplest of chores. With the injury, it was difficult just getting out of bed. He brought her to visit the girls' graves, sometimes without her even needing to ask.

But her happiness failed to last once again.

On the morning of September 30, 2011, Scott had left Jennifer's to deliver a package to the hospital. She went about her business of getting ready that morning until she faced the police officer standing in the apartment door.

Scott had been killed in a serious car accident.

Jennifer slowly began picking up the pieces again, but she wanted Nelson out of her life for good.

In 2012, she went to the courthouse to get a divorce. However, Nelson wouldn't sign, so special procedures had to be followed. Two weeks after the process began, the divorce was finalized.

Afterword

In August 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada decided the Mr. Big operation used to obtain Nelson Hart's confession was unreliable and inadmissible.

The Crown withdrew the charge of murder, and Nelson Hart was released from prison in Bishop's Falls.

Nelson Hart's lawyers called the sting operation the perfect storm. There was psychological manipulation by the police, and Mr. Hart was an extremely vulnerable target, according to defence lawyer Robby Ash.

Nelson served a total of nine years in prison. There is no word on whether there will be a wrongful prosecution suit from the lawyers, but his mother says there's no question they will be seeking compensation for wrongful conviction.

Jennifer Hicks lives with her fiancé in Gander. While she's come a long way financially and emotionally, she wishes her daughters could be here to be part of this new life.

The investigation into the deaths of Karen and Krista Hart could potentially be reopened should the police find additional evidence. Jennifer is holding on to that hope.

“I had to fight for my youngsters ever since they came into the world. From the first hour they were born. I am still fighting for them.”