Judge rejects bid to exclude prison officer’s reports

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This article was published 25/09/2023 (760 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A trial for a corrections officer charged in the death of jail inmate William Ahmo will move to closing arguments Wednesday after a judge rejected a defence bid to exclude written reports the officer provided to superiors following a violent 2021 standoff.

Ahmo, 45, died in hospital Feb. 14, 2021 — seven days after he was injured during a prolonged standoff with corrections officers at Headingley Correctional Centre.

Corrections officer Robert Jeffrey Morden, 44, who led the emergency response team that ultimately took Ahmo down, is on trial charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide necessities of life.

Jail video previously played for court showed Morden and nearly a dozen other response officers storming the common area of Ahmo’s unit and firing several chemical irritant projectiles as the inmate stood on a second-floor walkway.

Officers took Ahmo to the ground and forcefully restrained him for several minutes before he was found not breathing. Paramedics restored Ahmo’s heartbeat, but he never regained consciousness and died in hospital seven days later.

Under the correctional service’s use-of-force policy, any officer directly involved in, or a witness to, a use-of-force incident is required to provide a written report to their superiors, including a threat assessment, what they saw and what they did.

Prior to the trial, Crown lawyers signalled they would be seeking to use the reports in their cross-examination of Morden, should he testify. Morden’s lawyers filed a charter challenge, arguing use of the reports would violate Morden’s right against self-incrimination.

Lawyers argued the charter challenge before provincial court Judge Tony Cellitti earlier this month. Cellitti ruled Monday the reports were admissible.

Court heard Morden provided a 10-page report to his superiors within days of the standoff and a second, one-page supplemental report on the day Ahmo died.

Defence lawyer Richard Wolson argued Morden was compelled to provide the reports under threat of being charged with insubordination and had not seen video footage of the incident. Wolson added Morden was under great stress at the time he wrote the reports, and had been provided no warning the reports could be used against him in a criminal proceeding.

“The fact there are no use immunity provisions (in the use-of-force policy) should have made it clear to the accused that the reports could be used for other purposes,” Cellitti said.

“Even if I accept that the accused was under stress and or pressure at the time he prepared and submitted his reports, I’m not persuaded the presence of such factors amounts to or contributes to a state finding of coercion,” he said.

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Cellitti said the reports were analogous to notes police officers write during an investigation, which are routinely referenced in court proceedings.

“In my view, reports that are submitted under the (use-of-force) policy are the functional equivalent of police notes,” Cellitti said. “There is a minimal expectation of privacy in police notes.”

After Cellitti delivered his ruling, the Crown closed its case. Wolson said the defence would not be calling any evidence.

Closing arguments will begin Wednesday with submissions from the Crown.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.