Crisis negotiator testifies in trial of Manitoba jail guard charged in inmate's death

The crisis negotiator who had been at a Manitoba jail the day an hours-long standoff with an inmate came to a violent end testified he had never seen anything like it before.

Robert Jeffrey Morden, a corrections officer, has been charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life in connection to the death of William Ahmo.

The 45-year-old man had been an inmate at the Headingley Correctional Centre and was involved in a standoff with correction officers on Feb. 7, 2021.

He died days later on Feb. 14.

Morden has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On Tuesday in Manitoba’s provincial court, Michel Jolicoeur returned to the witness stand for cross-examination.

The Headingley correctional officer had been the one to act as crisis negotiator, and was called as the first witness in the Crown’s case late last week.

Jolicouer told the court Tuesday he had spent 21 years as a guard at the jail, including being a crisis negotiator for 17 years - a role that he received training for annually.

“I’ve been involved in over 60 major incidents as a crisis negotiator. Probably one of the most in the province, and I’ve never seen an incident like this before,” he told the court.

Jolicoeur testified that the standoff started as a result of a racist joke, which Ahmo told him had come from one of the guards. Jolicoeur said he later found out the joke had actually come from another inmate.

Jolicouer told the court that during the standoff, Ahmo said things like that he would die and go to heaven, that he wasn’t going to go peacefully, and that he would kill anybody who came through the door.

“He said this was war?” defence lawyer Richard Wolson asked.

“Correct, he believed he was in a war,” Jolicouer told the court, previously testifying he believed Ahmo was experiencing a mental health crisis.

During the standoff, which lasted more than three hours, Jolicouer testified Ahmo started throwing desks and computers, ripped a hot water dispenser from the wall, and was taking pieces of broken glass to craft weapons.

He testified Ahmo was highly agitated and enraged, but at times the man would become quiet and sit down and seemed to be praying. But the rage would return, he testified, and Ahmo would ramp up again.

“Every effort was made to bring this to a peaceful ending?” Wolson asked.

“Correct,” he replied.

Jolicouer testified another inmate in the range was having difficulty breathing due to pepper spray gases that had been shot at Ahmo earlier. Jolicoeur said he stood down in his role as crisis negotiator and the decision was made that the Corrections Emergency Response Team would extract Ahmo.

The court previously heard the captain of this team - which was previously described as a tactical team - was the accused.

During the confrontation, Ahmo became unresponsive. Court previously heard Ahmo lost consciousness and went into cardiac arrest.

Though his heartbeat did return, the court heard Ahmo was taken to a hospital in Winnipeg and was intubated before the decision was made on Feb. 14 to discontinue life support.

PANDEMIC CREATED ‘PERFECT STORM’ FOR MAJOR INCIDENT IN JAILS, WITNESS TESTIFIES

The standoff came at a time when the province was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which Jolicoeur testified was difficult for corrections staff and inmates.

The jail, he said, had already had to deal with an outbreak of infections.

He said inmates were locked in their cells for a good part of the day, and had less communication with the facility’s chaplain or elder.

“Would you agree with me that this was a perfect storm for a major incident?” Wolson asked.

“Absolutely,” Jolicoeur replied.

Along with this, the corrections officer testified he has seen an increase in meth induced psychosis among inmates in the last five years.

“It’s almost like an epidemic,” he told the court.

This psychosis, he testified, would involve various symptoms including hallucinations and delusions. This includes paranoia and religious theories, which he said included some inmates believing they could communicate with God.

“I seen some of that psychosis in Ahmo,” Jolicoeur told the court. “He stated he was the messiah, he figured he was somebody of importance.”

However, when asked by Crown prosecutors if he had ever seen Ahmo take crystal meth, either on the day of the incident or the days prior, Jolicouer said he never had.

“You don’t have a medical background, correct?” Crown prosecutor Vlatko Karadzic asked Jolicoeur.

“No, I don’t,” he responded.

The trial is set to continue Tuesday afternoon.