Jury convicts Stead man of killing neighbour in 2021

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This article was published 13/02/2025 (260 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A jury has convicted Eric Wildman of murdering his neighbour — that prosecutors said he’d caught stealing from him on his rural Manitoba property — ending a legal odyssey that included a mistrial.

Wildman, 38, was charged with first-degree murder in the July 2021 killing of 40-year-old Clifford Joseph.

Jurors delivered their verdict late Thursday afternoon following two days of deliberations.

The trial marks the second time the case against Wildman has gone before a jury. A trial in 2023 ended abruptly in a mistrial after defence lawyer Martin Glazer fell ill and was unable to continue.

Throughout the month-long trial, Wildman watched the proceedings with what appeared to be a permanent half-smile. Except for a slight widening of his eyes, Wildman showed little change in expression upon hearing the verdict.

Joseph’s aunt Carmelle Dromberg and cousin Kelly Gorman cried and embraced as the verdict was read out. Gorman punched the air with her fist when King’s Bench Justice Rick Saull told Wildman he will be subject to a mandatory life sentence in prison, with no chance of parole for 25 years.

“It’s been a long time coming and we got what we wanted,” Gorman said as Sheriff’s officers led Wildman out of the courtroom. Wildman will be formally sentenced at a later date.

Wildman and Joseph lived on neighbouring properties near Stead, about 90 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

Prosecutors argued Wildman caught Joseph stealing a winch from his property in the early hours of June 7, ran him down with his vehicle, breaking his jaw, leg and ribs, then moved him to a bushy area a few kilometres away, where he shot him at least two times, including once in the back of the head.

Wildman called RCMP from his mother’s Winnipeg home on June 9 and claimed that on the night of Joseph’s disappearance, he had been staying at a friend’s home, a claim the friend later refuted, jurors heard.

Investigators found Wildman’s Chevrolet Impala outside another friend’s house in Winnipeg. Inside the car, police found an empty gun case and a receipt from an auto parts store dated June 9, where jurors heard Wildman had purchased a hood and replaced it in the parking lot. Prosecutors allege Wildman replaced the hood to cover up the damage that occurred when he ran over Joseph.

After RCMP towed Wildman’s vehicle, he called Mounties from his mother’s home to report a handgun missing from his Stead property. Prosecutors allege Wildman knew police would have found the gun case in his car and claimed it was stolen to divert suspicion.

Police told him he was a suspect in Joseph’s killing and to stay where he was. Instead, Wildman took a taxi to the airport, rented a car and drove to Belleville, Ont., where police arrested him June 18.

Jurors were not given details about Wildman’s arrest, which came after he shot at police who were executing an arrest warrant at the home where Wildman was staying. Last November, an Ontario jury convicted Wildman of one count each of attempted murder and possession of a restricted firearm with readily available ammunition.

In a closing argument before jurors Monday, defence lawyer Martin Glazer dismissed the Crown’s theory that Wildman killed Joseph after catching him trying to steal a winch as “absurd,” arguing it was far more likely that Joseph, a man caught up in the illegal drug trade, was killed by someone he had crossed.

”(Eric Wildman) is no killer,” Glazer said. “Whoever killed Clifford Joseph was a person or persons who knew what they were doing and knew Clifford Joseph.”

Jurors heard recordings of jail phone calls during which Wildman told people his car hood was damaged after he “smoked a deer.”

A collision expert called by the defence told jurors the car showed no “conclusive” evidence it had struck a person.

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Glazer said Wildman “panicked” when he fled to Ontario, but that is not a sign of guilt.

“The fact he made a bad decision doesn’t make him guilty of murder.”

Prosecutors argued the circumstantial evidence against Wildman was overwhelming and left no doubt he had killed Joseph.

Wildman knew neighbours had been stealing from him “and he was ready to deal with it,” Crown attorney Bryton Moen said. “The evidence in this case is no coincidence.”

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.