A criminal charge against one of the correctional officers working at the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre when Adam Kargus was killed has been dropped.
Gregory Langford, 55, was initially charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life. He is one of three correctional officers charged in relation to the incident.
OPSEU representatives tell BlackburnNews.com the crown decided to drop the charge against Langford on Monday.
"I can't speak for the Crown or what occurred in the court but obviously there wasn't any legitimacy to the charge or they didn't feel that there was any chance for a conviction," says OPSEU Corrections Chair Vieselmeyer. "I guess when they probably dug deeper into the charges there just wasn't any rationale to go forward with them."
Both 52-year-old Operational Manager Stephen Jurkus and 47-year-old Corrections Officer Lesley Lonsbary still face a charge of failing to provide the necessaries of life. Their cases remain before the courts.
Vieselmeyer is hopeful that Langford's case will set a precedent and that the other charges against the EMDC employees will also be dropped.
London police had previously said they reviewed surveillance video from inside the detention centre the night Adam Kargus died before laying the charges.
Kargus, a 29-year-old Sarnia man, was beaten to death inside his cell on October 31 of 2013.
His cellmate, a notoriously violent and dangerous man, Anthony George faces a charge of second-degree murder in relation to Kargus' death.