ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A Newfoundland man who had a murder conviction thrown out after a landmark Supreme Court ruling has been found guilty by a judge of uttering threats during an altercation in prison involving correctional officers two years ago.
The Crown stayed a second charge of assaulting a peace officer today against Nelson Hart before provincial court Judge Lois Skanes delivered her verdict.
Crown attorney Mike Murray said the assault charge had become a distraction.
The case returns to court on Feb. 27 to set a date for sentencing.
Hart has been free since the Crown decided last August it lacked enough evidence to retry him for murder in the 2002 drowning deaths of his three-year-old twin girls in Gander Lake.
A correctional officer testified Tuesday that on Jan. 30, 2013, Hart became irate and told another guard he would stab him at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s.
Krista Williams said Hart threw a paper plate and plastic cutlery at her and other guards after becoming agitated when they tried to determine if he had taken medication he’d been given.
Hart had pleaded not guilty to both charges he originally faced.
Skanes said testimony from two of the three correctional officers who were at Hart’s segregation cell satisfied her that he meant to intimidate.
They testified that Hart threatened to stab a male guard, who was present that day but did not testify Tuesday.
“Hart was clearly agitated and angry when those words were spoken,” Skanes said in her decision.
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled last July that confessions extracted through so-called Mr. Big police sting operations must be regulated more carefully in order to be admissible in court. Hart was subsequently released after nine years behind bars
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