Crown says corrections officer 'did nothing' to save EMDC inmate

What did a former Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre corrections officer hear the night an inmate on his range, Adam Kargus, was beaten to death by his cellmate Anthony George?

That question was at the heart of proceedings inside a London, Ont. courtroom Thursday, as lawyers delivered closing arguments in the retrial of ex-guard Leslie Lonsbary.

Lonsbary has been charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life to 29-year-old Kargus on Oct. 31, 2013, and a jury is set to begin deliberating the case next week.

"This was not a one blow thing," said General Crown Counsel, Fraser Kelly. "This was a lengthy beating, and a lengthy beating is not likely to be a silent undertaking."

Kelly argues that Lonsbary heard inmates causing a commotion, trying to get his attention.

Kelly showed jurors silent split screen surveillance footage from inside the jail, showing activity – evidence of the beating -- happening inside Kargus and George's cell, faces of other inmates drawn to their cell windows, and of Lonsbary coming out of the control room office.

"He should be running in there, at least to stay stop," said Kelly.

Instead, Kelly says Lonsbary "buried his head in the sand" by going back to the office and eventually shutting the door.

"During the split screen times, an hour and five minutes more or less, Adam Kargus was horribly beaten. Through that whole time … Mr. Lonsbary sat a mere 46 feet away, and did nothing."

The sound could have been of 'normal, happy inmates': defence

But Ron Ellis, Lonsbary's defence lawyer, argues his client did do something.

"Maybe he should have been out of the control room, at times," he admitted. "But what could he hear, clearly?"

Ellis argues that when Lonsbary appeared in the doorway of the control room, it was to "get a better listen and a better look" at the noise he heard. Ellis compared it to the way a parent might check on a child.

"It wasn't a check as required by standing orders, but it was a check," he said.

The foundation of Ellis's argument, however, is that the commotion Lonsbary heard was not alarming.

"Sounds Mr. Lonsbary heard could well have sounded like normal, happy inmates," he said.

Anthony George pleaded guilty to killing Kargus and is serving a life sentence in prison.

It'll be up to the jury to decide whether or not Lonsbary failed to provide Kargus the necessaries of life.

The case resumes at the London courthouse on Monday at 10 a.m.