Final charge against HMP supervisor in Henoche prison death case dismissed

The lone outstanding charge against a corrections supervisor accused of killing a St. John's inmate has been thrown out.

Jeff Thistle and two other guards at Her Majesty's Penitentiary had been charged with manslaughter, but those charges were dismissed late last year after a provincial court judge declined to take the matter to trial.

Thistle's remaining charge, failure to provide the necessaries of life, was dismissed in provincial court Wednesday.

Thistle was one of nine penitentiary guards accused of killing Jonathan Henoche, a Labrador man who died on Nov. 6, 2019 in a segregation cell.

In December, Judge Pamela Goulding found that each of the guards acted in a "professional and dutiful manner."

To take the case to trial would "elevate the great prospect of wrongful conviction," she said at the time.

It's not clear from conflicting medical reports how Henoche died. Although his death was listed in his autopsy as a homicide, a second medical expert gave evidence that Henoche's heart may have failed due to a pre-existing condition as guards restrained him.

Henoche's family has filed a lawsuit against the Newfoundland and Labrador government, alleging negligence.

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