What do you remember about the day that you were in court and the in pleed I it was numb just cold it was was also confusing didn’t know enough about the system and how things worked and I guess I understood what was about to happen but guess there’s always something deep down
That some miracle could happen I don’t know when the judge has the final say right Helen and Neil stood side by side in a courtroom in Edmonton on March 19th 2020 it was the very early days of the pandemic in North America earlier that week the courts had almost completely
Shut down Neil’s lawyer appeared by phone because he just returned from the United States and was in isolation that was a new thing then Helen and Neil had agreed to take plea deals the murder charges would be dropped against both of them and Helen would plead guilty to manslaughter
Instead there would be no trial no battered woman defense the lawyers also proposed sentences Helen would get 18 years in prison for the death of her husband Neil would get three years for helping dispose of his father’s body Wes’s charges had already been dropped that was the deal but the judge
Didn’t have to accept it even with an agreement by the lawyers it’s still up to the judge to determine an appropriate sentence it’s rare for a judge to go against a plea deal but it does happen I’ve seen it that’s what Helen is talking about when she said
There could be a miracle the judge has the final say he could give Helen as little as 4 years in prison the minimum sentence for manslaughter with a firearm I’ve seen that too I’m Janna Pruden and this is in her defense from the Globe and Mail episode 6 thanks
Gentlemen don’t get me wrong I’m not saying Darren’s a bad person at all he’s great lawyer yeah it’s just how things played out I guess and you know I there’s lots of things that I don’t know either that happened behind the scenes so but you at some point it was decided
Not to take it to trial yes like it wasn’t totally my decision um like I was heavily influenced not too but at the same time I’m not so sure whether I could have gone through that it was just different um when Kevin was representing me I think it was he was more
Supportive helping me through it whereas with Darren I don’t I didn’t have that confidence that I could do it it wasn’t just myself that I was concerned about I wasn’t concerned about myself you know I’m in this position and of course to make it completely go
Away would have been the the best option but regardless of the fact I can deal with whatever comes my way but I somehow needed to free kneel from it it was that was my biggest my biggest concern me it wasn’t it wasn’t his thing he really had no part of it other than
Being at the wrong place at the wrong time type of thing and he was just standing behind his mother and I just I couldn’t take that the gamble on his part like on my part I was willing to take the gamble but I I don’t know I just I couldn’t have
Live with myself if you know things would have went badly and we both would have went to jail for to be murdered so if if we imagine a situation in which Neil you know had had nothing to do with this at all meaning was never charged for it or like it’s completely
Outside of the situation and it was only you you feel like you would have gone to trial for sure absolutely I really didn’t have anything to lose and why would you have taken it to trial I guess going into it it would be the whole scenario would have been different because
It I guess I would have just expected the jury and the people involved to be more sympathetic I guess it was the only way that I could feel that I could protect NE like to get the best for Neil that’s that was my biggest concern
And I didn’t think there was any way of making it any better I mean that what he ended up with was like black and white from dist started I mean it’s still horrifying to think that he had to go to jail for even a day over any of
This the lawyers had drawn up a six-page agreed statement of facts this is a version of events that becomes the truth at least according to the court Crown prosecutor Dallas Soco read it into the record it talked about the family’s financial problems about Helen’s depression and her attempts to take her
Own life and what was described as a problematic family relationship it it said the 27-year marriage involved many incidents of physical and emotional abuse including controlling Behavior directed at Helen and that Helen genuinely feared for her safety it said the accused was unhappy in her marriage but due to the history
Of abuse concern for her children depression and a learned helplessness she felt she could not leave the court heard that on the September long weekend in 2011 mes was very drunk ordering Helen and kneel around at gunpoint throwing wrenches at Helen and threatening that she would pay dearly for a broken down
Tractor it said miles’s Behavior got worse throughout the day and only stopped when he passed out it said miles was sleeping when Helen got a 22 caliber revolver pistol and shot him in the back of the head killing him instantly the case was adjourned until the fall in the meanwhile Helen packed
Up the house and farm and prepared to to go to prison it was a tough few months Michelle Pruden worked with Helen at A1 at the time if you noticed the last name she’s actually married to a distant relative of mine but we don’t know each
Other and so when she was charged in out on bail were you back working here then yes I I was here with her right till the end right she kind of trained me to take back over it right yeah so what was that period like when she kind of
Um I felt for her I was actually very scared that she was going to end up doing something bad to herself just because but again she was very quiet not I’ll be honest the openest I seen her was the night when we all had a few
Drinks her last night and um she just kind of said that she didn’t regret what she did and she’ll do what she’s got to do to yeah wow yeah um and so that was the night before she was actually sentenced and taken into custody yeah and uh can
You just tell me a little bit about was that actually in the we closed up and we just had a few beer and uh talking visiting and she she knew that the next day she was going to yeah prison yeah like the story and what was that like
What was that like for you to see that and no it was horrible absolutely horrible I couldn’t even imagine like yeah being in her shoes right you you’ve lived a life of hell up to here and now you’re going to have to continue to live a life
With Helen and Neil were back in court on October 30th 20120 we can’t play recordings from court but we do have the transcripts Crown prosecutor Dallas Soco said there were a lot of aggravating factors in the case including and this is a quote that this occurred in the
Victim’s own home a place where he’s entitled to feel safe Helen’s lawyer Darren sprake said the deal came from a year-long negotiation he did mention the extreme control and violence Helen was living with including miles’s quote Gunplay he said the central issue for the defense was whether or not the
Battered woman syndrome would apply this was the struggle for the defense in that respect he said I’m not alleging any particular circumstances that means as far as the court was concerned Helen’s abuse was irrelevant Helen didn’t speak Justice Sterling sander presided over the case he was about to retire
After a long career and before he told Helen and Neil what their sentences would be he reflected on the various trag IES that happen in the courthouse building every day he said most people who are charged with criminal offenses in this building aren’t evil people they’re not bad people they are people
Who make mistakes because they are generally overwhelmed by their personal difficulties they react poorly when other options are open to them but they then have to pay for the manner in which they’ve overreacted because it offended our sense of morality and our sense of the law the judge called Helen and Neil
Prime examples of that law-abiding and loving people who haven’t been able to deal with problems in their lives he said they were going to lose their Liberty for a period of time because they did something terrible but that is the only terrible thing they have done in their
Lives but just as Sander’s sympathy for Helen and Neil went only so far before he imposed the sentences he said killing miles was a callous cowardly act on a vulnerable victim in his own home by a partner he accepted the lawyer’s deal just as it was Helen was sentenced to 18
Years in prison minus 4 months for the time she spent in jail and under house arrest Neil got 3 years with the same credit the judge commended all the lawyers for their work thanks gentlemen he said then it was over uh just I guess an easy one to S I
Mean do you have any sort of thoughts on the the case now that it’s concluded um I think that the outcome was a just one for everyone involved which is always satisfying for the crown it’s been a long and arduous Journey particularly for the family so um I am satisfied and
Happy that the matter is dealt with on behalf of everyone that was involved in the matter including the family as well as the deceased Crown prosecutor Dallas Soco wouldn’t speak to me for this podcast but here he is talking to Edmonton Journal reporter Johnny Wakefield on the courthouse steps after the sentencing
Very little as you get through life and you experience life not very much as black and white white obviously taking someone’s life from the Crown’s perspective is black and white in that sense but but the background and the relationship between the parties clearly isn’t black and white it’s gray
And uh uncovering what’s going on in someone someone’s house can be difficult and because this was a domestic situation there’s a lot that we don’t know and there’s a lot about the dynamic between the uh victim and the accused that we don’t know have you you I mean
Watching uh walking cour today was really difficult I mean she’s a very small person she’s 56 years old she was you know being supported by her her family I mean have you seen a defendant quite like this and she was um it’s it’s unusual uh it’s unusual in my experience
For people at this uh age of their life and particularly uh a woman to to commit such a violent offense I’m not trying to stereotype I’m just saying that based on my experience but that just goes to show what the domestic relationships can be like and the dynamic in these places um
And when conflict happens sometimes people that don’t otherwise commit criminal offenses do and I’m not trying to minimize what happened it was serious um the victim had a had other family members that really cared about him but it is a real tragedy all the way around
As was said by Justice sanderman in this decision the judge’s reaction he made some comments yeah that I’m not too keen on but again something that’s totally out of my control like yeah he didn’t have much of a heartt no when he said those words and and you know there’s particularly a line
About an innocent man you know being killed as he slept yeah in the safety of his own home do you remember what it was like to hear those words and what your reaction was oh yeah I definitely remember but uh my reaction I don’t know
I I don’t know what I should say there um I don’t know it was kind of made me angry because this again nothing was out there right nobody knew the real truth or what it was just like those words seem very cruel to me to the experience that you had
Lived oh yeah I they were cruel or they not I don’t know but there again nobody knew I yeah I don’t know I I’m not sure what to say there I mean how really how could he speak any differently when he didn’t know the other side of the story at
All Helen’s family and friends tried to process the idea of her facing nearly 20 years in prison here’s Lawrence from the Holden Hotel I didn’t think she’d ever get his s like that that was a big mistake and Helen’s friend and neighbor corleen lir I mean that’s the law right
Yeah what are you going to do if it happened it happened they are going to charge her yet but I don’t think she should have got such a sentence because of what went on in life like he drove her to that seriously do you remember when you heard
What the sentence was going to be that she was facing 18 years I did hear cuz a lot of people actually because it was on Facebook and people were were telling me and saying that they didn’t think it was right all like a lot of my friends around in the horse
World to think they thought it was crazy any I’ve never talked to anybody that thinks she should have got what she got Helen’s cooworker Michelle Pruden was hearing the same things that it was wrong it was way too much that she did not deserve that more
Un less I’ve heard many people say he deserved to be where he he was I can’t say I heard one person say that she got what she deserved not one person and then when I found out what she got I was just horrified yeah cuz it’s more
Like self-defense whether you look at it that way or not she lived her whole life at and it wasn’t just people who knew Helen who were upset I was fuming when I read the judge’s comments I found them condescending I found them arrogant and I found them ignorant how can you say
There were other options do you not know about the plight of rural women escaping male violence against women do you not know about battered women’s Syndrome have you not looked at the case law you’ve been a judge for decades this is Matthew Barons he’s part of a group
Called women who choose to live his comments were just beyond the pale and the notion that Helen’s husband the abuser was the ultimate victim here that again it’s I don’t know what words can express how otherworldly those comments are they literally are from another planet because this guy has no clue at all
About what Helen went through um and he didn’t ask the questions he should have asked Helen was railroaded and he let her get run over Dr Elizabeth sheii the expert on the battered women defense also heard about about Helen sentence well I I was well and truly shocked it’s the longest
Sentence I’ve ever seen for a an abused woman who’s pled guilty to manslaughter and it’s well outside the range the longest sentence I’d ever seen was I think 9 years so this is double what I had considered an outlier sentence of nine years so I thought it was quite
Shocking in in spite of the U some of the aggravating circumstances and and you know the main aggravating circumstance in my view is the fact that she lied about uh about his death and um you know participated in a in a in hiding his death from police for a period of six
Years and I suppose the other thing is you know I looked at a comparable case of a man who had killed his wife and hidden her body in the wall and his sentence was far less than hers I so even looking at you know men who killed
I thought wow this is really really extreme and punitive as a sentence she’s referring to the case of Alan Shack a Calgary man who strangled his wife Lisa Mitchell to death in October 2012 shyc said his wife had been coming at him with a knife and that he strangled her in
Self-defense he then cemented her body into the basement and sent fake texts and voicemail messages to her family and her children making it seem like she’d run off with another man he was convicted of manslaughter after a trial in Calgary in September of 2017 right around the time Helen was
Charged he got 7 years in prison fully 11 years less than Helen’s 18-year sentence even though the court of appeal later increased his sentence to 10 years Helen’s sentence was still way higher I’m not sure how to account for the difference except the justice system
Is very used to men who kill their wives it is not used to women like Helen well the usual ending is her death not his I mean all the data tells us that um you know I’m not saying that that was definitely going to happen how
Can I know that but we certainly know that it’s far more likely to end in her death than his statistically not just statistically but practically when you look at it you know I mean he was twice her weight um at least a foot taller than her and far
More Adept and prepared to use violence he’d been using violence against her and her children for decades you know so I would say on her facts certainly far more likely that he would kill her than she him in 2011 the year miles was killed almost half of female homicide victims
In Canada were killed by their current or former partners for men that number was 3% after her sentencing Helen was taken to the Edmonton Institution for Women she told me those early days were some of the darkest and lonliest of her life but she wasn’t alone even if she didn’t know it yet
Can you tell me about that time you know from when you um get this sentence and maybe you’re sort of resigned that that’s what you’re facing and then when you start to realize that there’s a lot of people around the entire country who are saying this is wrong it really messed me up
Yeah I I didn’t know what to think at that point I didn’t know whether I’d done something wrong by agreeing to the deal or that I should have gone to trial or what was to happen next and then you know then it uh all started with
This well it started with a lawyer from Vancouver phoning like I had no idea just really got me blindsided I don’t know how her call ever got through to be honest a lawyer from Vancouver yeah wanting to appeal the case conviction sentence the whole thing I had no idea
Who she would never heard of her and then what did you think I didn’t know that I was just I it was just mindboggling because I had I was terrified I had no idea what was going on gu I’m stuck in here can’t talk to anybody then I I’m not knowing who to
Talk to I I mean it’s not something I am not just going to take this person from out of the middle of nowhere that never heard of before and take her word for it yeah I was just I didn’t know what to do so my
I relied on Darren I I called Darren and I I just followed his advice um called him to say like what to find out what the hell was going on cuz like I said I’m locked up in here I don’t see the news I don’t know what’s
Going on with all this public reaction or what people are saying or at that point I didn’t know who to trust I like I I didn’t know this other person so the only person I really knew that I could kind of depend on was Darren so I
At that point I took his advice I he advised against it and what am I supposed to do that but then that’s not the end of it obviously so what happens then well then I get that’s when Kim gets in contact Kim P Senator Kim Pete yeah yeah I guess it
Just changed from there she kept in contact with me and kept me up to date as to what was going on and you know giv me information about other people that she had been talking to that you know the reasonings for why she was thinking that an appeal should be done
And there again I thought well I’m if everybody can get guarantee me there’s that scary word again that Neil’s not going to be in any worse position like I said there at that time there again was his concern was my one and only main concern like I needed that that guarantee that reassurance
That if things went badly or that nothing could change on his side of the fense so you know know you’re in this strange Place very hard sometimes to get any information this woman calls you out of the blue from BC and then a senator calls you from like do you remember when
You got on the phone with Kim and you know not really no not not the first phone call yeah um but from Kim you learn that there is a lot of people in the country paying attention to this yeah uh and yeah and then from there on
It just got to be more and more like I think it was but to start with I got then I got a finally got a letter from that Matthew bar baren okay and then in his letter he you know pointed out a lot of situ the situations that were going on now on
The outside and all the these influential people that are out there concerned about the situation and want wanting me to go through with appeal and such and then I had gotten a letter from Elizabeth shei yourself and it just and it felt weird like why are all
These people that are so important so worried about somebody like me that isn’t important at all but even if she wanted to go head with an appeal and even if people around the country disagreed with her sentence doing anything about it was almost impossible that’s next time on in her
Defense there were very strong feelings about their being an injustice and uh on the face of it that seemed to be a justifiable criticism and Helen had nothing else what the you know what is going on here here how could someone enter a plea deal and get 18 years for manslaughter in a
Situation of uh where it was clear there was violence against women well I guess maybe it’s not a crazy feeling after all to think that you shouldn’t get the [ __ ] kicked out of you and mentally abused all your life that that’s wrong in her defense is made by casha
Mahalovich and me Janna Pruden field recording by Amber Bracken special thanks today to Edmonton Journal reporter Johnny Wakefield for sharing his interview on the courthouse steps we may not even know about Helen’s case if it wasn’t for Johnny’s reporting in her defense is recorded at mchan University by Sheena Roser Emily
Rubita and Sasha stoich David Crosby mixes the show Angela Penza is our executive editor special thanks to head of visual journalism Matt frer and head of editing Ian bokoff our theme song is The Fighter by Jen Grant Arrangement by David Crosby I would love to hear from
You you can email me personally at jpr DN globeandmail.com to learn more about this podcast and domestic violence in Canada go to t.ca slin her defense that’s defense the Canadian way with a while you’re there you can sign up for a true crime podcast newsletter if you’re experiencing
Domestic violence and want to talk to someone you can find resources and your nearest shelter at shelters safe.com mail our listeners get a special discount on new subscriptions at www.g globama mail.com SLP podcast deal take care and thank you for listening
Helen is sent to prison for the death of her husband. Around the country, people object to her sentence and the way she’s treated in court. In the isolation of prison, Helen wonders whether she’s done something wrong by accepting the deal, and has to consider what to do next.
Learn more about this podcast and domestic violence in Canada, or sign up for our newsletter at
E-mail the reporter, Jana Pruden, at [email protected]
If you’re experiencing domestic violence and want to talk to someone, you can find resources and your nearest shelter at sheltersafe.ca
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