A new Netflix documentary, “What Jennifer Did,” tells the story of a young Canadian woman and her alleged plot to kill her parents.
The documentary opens on the alarming 2010 emergency call Pan placed to the police after her mother was fatally shot to death and her father critically injured in their home.
What unfolds over the next 86 minutes is the harrowing story that police did not initially see coming.
Producers from the documentary secured footage from the interrogation room as investigators tried to piece together what happened the night Bich Ha Pan, 53, was killed and Huei Hann Pan, 60, was put into a coma.
The documentary walks viewers through how Pan’s parents allegedly pressured her to excel academically and eventually forced her to choose between her family and her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Daniel Wong.
Jennifer Pan in a sweatshirt and glasses with her dark hair in long braid. (Courtesy Netflix)
The film also shows that Pan allegedly lied to her parents about graduating from high school, college, and working as a pharmacist for years.
Eventually, prosecutors alleged, Pan enlisted Wong and two others to help her coordinate her parents’ deaths in a murder-for-hire plot.
What was Jennifer Pan initially found guilty of?
In 2014, at the age of 28, Pan was found guilty of both first-degree murder of her mother and the attempted murder of her father.
In January 2015, she was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 25 years, according to court records obtained by TODAY.com.
Pan’s three co-conspirators — Lenford Crawford, David Mylvaganam and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Daniel Wong — were also found guilty on both charges.
Why are Jennifer Pan and her co-conspirators getting a new trial?
Pan and the three men appealed the decision and in May 2023, the Court of Appeal for Ontario ordered new trials for the first-degree murder convictions.
According to the CBC, the court found that the judge in the initial trial erred by suggesting to the jury only two possible scenarios: one in which the plan was to murder both parents and another in which the plan was a robbery gone wrong, ending with both parents being shot.
The appeals court found that the trial judge should have also offered the jury second-degree murder and manslaughter as other possible verdicts in the death of Pan’s mother.
A lawyer representing Pan at the time told CBC that the appeal is part of Pan’s push to exonerate herself.
“It’s a very important day,” Stephanie DiGiuseppe told CBC. “Her fight is not over.”
“Because the jury was deprived all of the available options, the conviction is not safe,” DiGiuseppe said.
According to online court records, Pan does not appear to currently have legal representation and DiGiuseppe did not respond to TODAY.com’s requests for comment.
No date has been set for the re-trial and Pan is next due in court for an administrative appearance on June 14, 2024, according to online court records.
Where is Jennifer Pan now?
Pan is likely currently incarcerated, as the attempted murder charge for her father’s shooting is still being upheld.
TODAY.com’s requests for confirmation with Correctional Service Canada were not immediately returned.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
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