Cell where inmate was beaten to death not checked for almost 1.5 hours: trial
The Crown called London police Sgt. Cameron Halliday as first witness
For one hour and 27 minutes on Halloween night in 2013, no one checked on Range 6 (left), a cell block at Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC), a London jury heard today.
That jury will spend the next four weeks determining if former EMDC guard Leslie Lonsbary failed to to provide the necessaries of life that night, when inmate Adam Kargus was beaten to death by his cellmate Anthony George.
In surveillence video shown to the jury, inmates could be seen peering through the cell windows at the provincial jail.
Unusual activity could be seen through Cell 3's window between 7:56 p.m. and 9:01 p.m.
"We are going to find out what happened in that time," General Crown Counsel Fraser Kelly told the jury.
This is the second trial for former corrections officer Leslie Lonsbary. A previous jury couldn't come to a verdict about whether he failed to provide the necessaries of life on Oct. 31, 2013. That forced a mistrial and Lonsbary is being retried on the same charges.
Tuesday, the first full day of the retrial, the jury was given a virtual tour of EMDC's layout.
The jury heard testimony from London Police Sgt. Cameron Halliday, who was tasked with investigating what happened that night six years ago. The investigation is separate from the murder case against George.
"Information had come to light about action or inaction by staff members of EMDC," Halliday testified. "No decisions had been made, but some information needed following up on."
Jurors were shown drawings of the provincial jail, as well as videos of an incident between George and Kargus the afternoon before the beating, in which George is seen putting Kargus in a headlock and choking him.
The jurors have seen pictures of "the cage," where a corrections officer sits and watches while another is on the range with the inmates, as well as pictures of hallways leading to the control room from the range.
Four weeks have been set aside for the trial.
George pleaded guilty to killing Kargus and is serving a life sentence in prison.