Reference no: EM133299809

Question: On the morning of August 4, 2022, Nelson Lloyd took his three-year-old twin daughters, Karen and Krista, to Little Harbour Park on Gander Lake, where both girls drowned. There were no witnesses.

Hart initially told investigators that Krista had accidentally fallen in the lake, but that he did not jump in to help her because he could not swim. Despite having a functioning cellphone in his car, Hart said he panicked and drove 11 kilometers to his home in Gander, passing a hospital, to get his wife, who also could not swim. When Hart's wife asked where Karen was, he claimed to have forgotten her at the dock. The couple raced back to the lake, where they found both children floating in the water. By the time first responders arrived, Karen was dead and Krista was unconscious. The next day she was taken off life-support and died.

Hart's unusual behaviour cast a dark cloud of suspicion over him. When questioned by detectives, Hart maintained Krista and Karen's tragic deaths were accidental. But two weeks later, Hart claimed that he had had an epileptic seizure on the wharf and did not know how the girls ended up in the lake. He said he lied to police because he was afraid he would lost his driver's license. (Hart's license had been suspended several times due to his epilepsy.

Investigators were convinced Hart was guilty, but there was insufficient evidence to lay charges. Eventually, the case went cold. However, two years later the RCMP initiated a Mr. Big sting operation, drawing Hart into a make-believe world of organized crime. Surveillance conducted on Hart, who had a grade 5 education, revelated that he was socially isolated, unemployed, poor and relying on food banks, and the operation was tailored accordingly.

Undercover officers provided Hart with a job that often allowed him to stay in luxury hotels and dine in expensive restaurants. He was paid more than $15,000 for transporting supposedly illegal goods and had a lifestyle that he could only have dreamed about. Over time, he also came to view the undercover officers as his "best friends" and referred to them as his "brothers."

The operation drew to a close when Hart was told that he could earn up to $25,000 if he participated in an upcoming "big deal." The catch was that he would be required to meet with the purported crime boss, "Mr. Big," who had the final say on Hart's membership in the criminal organization. Hart was told that Mr. Big could use his influence and connections to make his legal problems go away. After initially denying that he killed Krista and Karen, Hart eventually told the crime boss that he pushed the three-year-old girls off the wharf because he feared Child Protection Services was planning to give Har's brother custody of his children.

Three days later, Hart took Mr. Big to the scene of the crime and re-enacted how he had pushed his daughters into the water. Both confessions were secretly videotaped. Based on this evidence, a jury later found Hart guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

In 2012, Hart successfully appealed his conviction to the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeals. The Court concluded that two confessions used as evidence at his trial were obtained in breach of his right to silence under section 7 of the Charter, but ruled that a third
confession was admissible and subsequently ordered a new trial.

In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada, in a unanimous ruling, upheld the Appeal Court decision. The Supreme Court found that the financial and social inducements offered to Hart raised serious doubts about the reliability of his statements to undercover police officers. In addition, the ruling noted Hart's confession was inconsistent with the known facts and lacked sufficient independent corroboration. The Supreme Court concluded "these confessions are not worth the risk they pose," and that "it would be unsafe to rest a conviction on this evidence" (R. v. Hat, 2014, para. 146). Lacking evidence, the Crown dropped the charges and Hart was released from prison.

Should police be permitted to use deceit to obtain a confession?

- Is the Mr. Big technique ethical? Why or why not?
- Do you agree with the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in the Hart case? Did Hart get away with murder?