Nathaniel Jessup, 32, is charged with the second-degree murder of Dylan Levi Judd, who was found deceased in his prison cell at Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre on Nov. 10, 2014.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK
May 28, 2019 - 3:21 PM
KAMLOOPS — A man accused of killing his fellow inmate inside a Kamloops prison cell in 2014 is standing trial after being charged with second-degree murder.
Nathaniel David Jessup, born 1987, was charged in February 2018 in connection to death of 20-year-old Dylan Levi Judd.
The young prisoner was found unresponsive in his Kamloops prison cell more than four years ago and today, May 28, witnesses began testifying in Jessup’s Supreme Court trial.
Crown prosecutors Monica Fras and Neil Wiberg will call nine witnesses to testify and the trial is expected to last approximately two weeks.
Jessup is currently facing a charge of second-degree murder, but this isn’t the first time Jessup has been before the courts. He’s been convicted of offences dating back to 2006 including aggravated assault, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and assaulting a peace officer.
In 2017, Jessup made headlines across the province after he was convicted of choking a young boy in 2015, and attempting to abduct a young girl by grabbing and lifting her by her neck in 2016, according to a Vancouver Sun reports.
Dylan Levi Judd.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/File Photo
In a separate matter, online court documents show Jessup was charged just last Friday, May 24, with one count of second-degree murder and one count of interfering with a dead body by the Creston RCMP in connection to an incident dating back to August 2015.
The victim, 58-year-old Katherine McAdam, was last seen on Aug. 15, 2015. Her remains were discovered near Erickson. Police say Jessup and McAdam were believed to have been casual acquaintances at the time of her death.
Crown prosecutors will have to prove Jessup had a role in Judd’s death. In 2015, iNFOnews.ca spoke with Judd's adoptive mother who was frustrated with the lack of information she had been given surrounding her son’s death.
Even after his body was delivered back to his mother in Ontario, all she knew was that her son was found dead during a regular prison check on Nov. 10, 2014 at 7 a.m. at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre.
Judd’s mother was quick to dispel any rumour that her son committed suicide while he was in custody.
Corrections officer Dean Coles, who was in charge of monitoring the unit where Jessup and Judd shared a cell, says the night leading up to the morning when Judd was found unresponsive was nothing unusual.
He says the day shift corrections officer who he relieved told him it had been a good day with no issues and he expected it to be a good night.
“It was calm,” Coles said in his testimony today, May 28.
He says throughout the night shift, the corrections officer on duty is responsible for ensuring inmates are in their proper cells every 30 to 45 minutes by doing "visual checks". Visual checks are conducted by guards to ensure the correct prisoner is in the proper assigned cell by using an inmate's photo.
Crown prosecutors showed Coles the video surveillance footage from the night of Nov. 9, 2014 to the morning of Nov. 10, 2014. While Coles was taking a standard 30-minute coffee break, there is a period of time after 10 p.m., where there is no corrections officer in the unit where Jessup and Judd shared a cell.
A nurse and another prison guard are expected to testify later today.
For our past coverage on this case go here.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Karen Edwards or call (250) 819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2019