Man in prison for murder of Calgary caseworker found guilty of killing inmate
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EDMONTON – A man in prison for the second-degree murder of his caseworker in Calgary has now been convicted of killing of a fellow inmate.
Brandon Newman was found guilty last week of manslaughter in the 2022 stabbing of 33-year-old Bretton Fisher at the maximum-security Edmonton Institution.
Newman is serving life for stabbing Deborah Onwu 19 times at an assisted-living facility in 2019.
Another inmate, Cody Nicholls, was also convicted of manslaughter in the prison killing.
Court heard Fisher took issue with Newman for killing Onwu, a woman of African descent, and said Newman would get “stabbed up” if he and Nicholls didn’t transfer to another unit.
Fisher was confronted by the two men, stabbed three times and stomped on.
Newman and Nicholls claimed self-defence, but Court of King’s Bench Justice Nathan Whitling said their response was disproportionate to Fisher’s threat.
“Mr. Newman and Mr. Nicholls were the aggressors throughout the altercation,” the judge said in a written decision.
“The nature of Mr. Newman’s and Mr. Nicholls’ response was disproportionate to the threats made against them by Mr. Fisher, even accepting that those threats were very serious.”
Sentencing is to be held at a later date.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2025.