Crown argues that appeal should be heard in Hart case

Crown attorneys said Tuesday that an appeal needs to go ahead in the case of a central Newfoundland man convicted in 2007 of the double murder of his twin daughters.

At a NewfoundlandSupreme Court of Appeal hearing Tuesday, Crown lawyers were expected to argue to have an application for an appeal to overturn the conviction of Nelson Hart quashed because of continuing delays.

Instead, Crown attorney Stephen Dawson argued that Hart's appeal should be heard because Hart was found guilty of the most serious of all offences, and because the appeal is in the interest of justice.

"If it wasn't heard, there would always be this lingering sense of what if?" said Dawson.

"Obviously an appeal was filed by counsel [Derek Hogan, Hart's lawyer] who did the trial, and he's competent experienced counsel so we had to assume that he must have believed that there were grounds that needed to be reviewed by the Court of Appeal," he said.

Dawson also suggested that the court pick a lawyer to represent Hart. However, Hart flatly rejected the idea, saying he wanted a lawyer of his choosing. Most of the delays in his appeal have occurred because he has refused a legal aid lawyer, and wouldn't even have one paid for by legal aid.

Clyde Wells, chief justice of Newfoundland Supreme Court's appeals division, asked the Crown to ask the province's Attorney General, Tom Marshall, to get the funds from his department to pay for a lawyer for Hart at legal aid rates.

Hart, who attended the hearing via video link from prison in New Brunswick, agreed to the decision.

A Newfoundland Supreme Court jury found Hart guilty in March 2007 of two counts of first-degree murder in the August 2002 drowning deaths of his three-year-old daughters, Karen and Krista Hart.

At the time, Hart's lawyer said the focus of the appeal would be the methods the RCMP used to get a covertly videotaped confession from Hart.