A Richmond woman was trapped by her dire financial situation when she murdered her husband, a jury was told Monday.
Jo Anne Nancy Alexander, a mother of two adult children, pleaded not guilty to the January 2012 second-degree murder of 61-year-old John Alexander in their home on Aztec Street.
In his opening statement, Crown counsel Jeff La Porte told the jury that financial hardship was a motive in the slaying. Neither the accused nor her husband had been employed for years, he said, and they had no stable income.
Things got so bad that in 2011 they were forced to sell their family home to pay off debt, he said. A year after selling off the home, they had a $24,000 credit card bill and a bank account overdraft, and owed money to friends.
La Porte said letters written by the accused and seized by police painted a picture of financial woes.
"The letters tell a story of a woman who was trapped by her dire financial situation and her husband's," said La Porte.
One letter was written by the accused to her son and daughter.
"I am so sorry," says the accused's letter, read into the record in court by Crown counsel Jeremy Hermanson.
"Please forgive me. We are in financial ruin. I can't deal with it and your dad anymore.
"Your dad doesn't get it and he can never take care of himself so I am taking him with me. He was sleeping and didn't feel a thing.
La Porte said that on Jan. 26, 2012, the accused called 911, asking for someone to "take us away." When police arrived at the couple's home, they found her lying next to her husband on their bed. He was under the covers, fully clothed and wearing a tuque over his head. The couple's dog was lying dead on the bed.
The victim had large lacerations under the tuque and was unresponsive and cold to the touch. He was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy revealed he'd died of multiple skull fractures and injuries to the brain.
La Porte did not mention a murder weapon, but court heard that a hammer was seized by police in the home.
In October 2011, John Alexander had elective brain surgery in an attempt to alleviate symptoms of epilepsy. But at the time of the slaying, he'd been making progress and had not had any seizures since the operation, said La Porte.
Shortly before calling police, Alexander sent an email to six of her friends, pleading with them to forgive her and saying that her mind was "mush."
In the email, she asked her friends to help her mom and "the kids."
"I've left them in an awful fix." She also said her husband "never understood" and that when you're in a hole, it's "time to stop digging."
In the email, read into the record by Hermanson, Alexander said her husband was unhappy.
"I can't stand it anymore," she said. "Some people think this is the coward's way out. For me, it's the most difficult thing I have ever done."
La Porte told the jury that the evidence would be "emotional, raw and sad," but added that the prosecution intends to prove Alexander's actions were purposeful, voluntary and intentional and that she was guilty of murder.
The Crown is expected to call 12 witnesses, including a son of the couple and a cousin of the accused.
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