Headingley corrections officer's trial starts Friday for 2021 death of inmate

The trial for a correctional officer facing charges in the death of an inmate at the Headingley Correctional Centre starts Friday. 

Robert Jeffrey Morden, has been charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide necessities of life related to the death of William Ahmo. 

Ahmo, 45, was an inmate at the facility in Headingley, about 20 kilometres west of Winnipeg, when an altercation took place in the evening of Feb. 7, 2021. 

Investigators say there was a prolonged standoff between corrections officers and Ahmo in a common room at the provincial jail.

Headingley's critical emergency response team removed the Sagkeeng First Nation man from the area, and Ahmo became unresponsive.

Ahmo was taken to hospital in medical distress and died a week later.

The chief medical examiner ruled Ahmo's death a homicide. 

Family seeks justice 

Ahmo is remembered by his mother Darlene as a loving father to his son Emory. 

"He was so proud of him and looked forward to seeing the day Emory would graduate from university," Darlene Ahmo wrote in a statement released ahead of the trial. 

"My son loved life and always had the utmost respect towards me. I miss his hugs, his beautiful smile and most of all the love he had for me, his Mama," she wrote. 

In the statement, Ahmo said her family still doesn't know what happened to her son. 

"Our family has struggled with this tragedy," Darlene Ahmo wrote in the statement. "It has been a horrible nightmare that we go through each day. The pain and heartache is numbing."

Earlier this year Darlene Ahmo filed a statement of claim, suing the province and about a dozen correctional officers for the death of her son. The lawsuit alleges Ahmo faced racist treatment, excessive force, was shot with projectile weapons and beaten by the officers on Feb. 7, 2021. 

EJ Fontaine, Chief of Sagkeeng First Nation, said there needs to be justice.

"It's important that there's justice that is delivered for the death of William," Fontaine said ahead of the start of the trial. "There needs to be accountability for what occurred there." 

Fontaine recalls when he first heard about Ahmo's death, saying "immediately I thought that it was very tragic for the mother and the family … but I also thought that it was another case of injustice being inflicted on our people."

"[Just] because he was incarcerated doesn't mean that he deserved to die, and there's too many of our people that are incarcerated and are mistreated," Fontaine said.

The trial begins Friday morning and is expected to continue until Sept. 8 at the Provincial Court in Winnipeg.