Troy

Nikki Hart's mother, father and sister each stood up Monday in Rensselaer County Court and told how her death tore them apart emotionally.

Dressed in his green inmate uniform, Jason Guynup listened as he awaited his negotiated sentence of 20 years to life to be imposed by Judge Andrew Ceresia. Guynup had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for stabbing Hart to death in her Schodack bedroom on Dec. 16.

"I cry every day. It is a struggle to get through every day. I wake up with the pain, carry it through the day and take it to bed with me each night," William Hart, Nikki's father, said.

Victoria Hart said more than 2,000 people attended her daughter's wake. Nikki Hart owned Hart Real Estate.

"You don't know how beautiful she was on the day before Mother's Day in 1979 when I gave birth to Nikki," Victoria Hart said. "She was and still is the best Mother's Day present I have ever received."

Guynup, 37, and Hart, 33, had two daughters, Olivia and Addison, and what appeared to be a wonderful life, her mother said. The two young girls were home when their father killed their mother.

"Jason was mad because Nikki wouldn't continue to live in an abusive relationship," Hart's mother said.

"Little did any of us know what was really going on in Jason's depraved mind," she said.

An order of protection was issued against Guynup the day before Hart died.

The night of the murder, Ashley Hart and her young daughter were spending the night at Nikki's house at her request. Nikki Hart died in her sister's arms.

"I told her that I loved her and the kids were OK and that she was going to be OK," Ashley Hart said.

"She was just lying in my arms looking up at me. I rubbed her head and closed her eyes. Nikki was struggling to breathe when all of a sudden she stopped," Hart said.

In court Monday, she told Guynup, "You should never have the opportunity to walk the same Earth as I do or as my child does. You chose to take her life, now you should have to give up yours."

Guynup stood to express regret and ask for forgiveness.

"I would like to apologize for all the pain and suffering I caused your family and my family," Guynup said. "I pray to God I someday might be forgiven for my actions."

Ceresia sentenced Guynup to 20 years to life in prison and issued an order forbidding him from having any contact with his daughters.

District Attorney Richard McNally said, "There's nothing I could add to what Nikki's mom, dad, and sister said in court."

Guynup was represented by attorney Stephen Coffey.

Guynup's brother Robert Guynup was shot in 2009 outside his Troy home across from the Griswold Heights Apartments. Robert Guynup was permanently disabled after he photographed youths partying and fighting.

Ariel Myers, then 19, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for that crime.

kcrowe@timesunion.com • 518-454-5084 • @KennethCrowe