Provo • Hours before he died, allegedly at the hands of his roommate at Utah State Hospital, Omar Abas Sharif called his cousin to remind him to "bring candy" during the next day's visit.

"He wanted Jolly Ranchers," said Daha Sharif, who describes Omar, who was a 28-year-old Somalian refugee, as a "passive, calm guy" who "seemed to be doing well" and hoped to be released from the Provo mental-health facility in August.

Daha Sharif and extended family in Seattle learned about Omar Sharif's death on March 18, the day he was killed. They buried him the next day at a cemetery in Sandy.

They are angry and confused about the circumstances surrounding his alleged murder at the hands of James Clive Norman, information that authorities didn't disclose for three weeks.

"I don't want to point fingers at one person or organization," said Daha Sharif, of Salt Lake City. "But it's hard not to think this whole thing could have been avoided."

Said another cousin, 21-year-old Amina Sharif in Seattle, "Don't they monitor residents to make sure they're safe? Why didn't they see this happening and get to him right away? And why did they stick these two together?"

Advocates, too, question why it took so long for the homicide investigation to be made public.

"This was a vulnerable person in state custody," said Sherri Wittwer, executive director of the Utah chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "It's an unusual occurrence but a serious occurrence. It certainly raises a lot of questions and concerns."

Provo police Capt. Jerry Harper confirmed Wednesday that Norman, 33, is believed to have choked Sharif to death in the early morning. Investigators say Norman, a convicted sex offender with a history of violence and a previous stint at the hospital, was upset over Sharif's snoring.

Officials at the Utah Department of Human Services, which licenses mental-health facilities, are investigating, but they provided few details Thursday, citing federal privacy laws.

Norman and Sharif had both been assigned to the hospital's forensic area — the facility's maximum-security unit for criminal defendants. Most patients in that unit have been committed in order to have their competency restored so they can stand trial.

Charges have yet to be filed in the slaying. Deputy Utah County Attorney Doug Finch said Norman presents "a very unique case."

Charges of manslaughter or murder are possible, but Finch said he has to research the law and consider whether Norman intended to kill Sharif and whether he knew what he was doing. Finch said he is still waiting for information about medications Norman was taking.

"I honestly don't know what we have," Finch said.

In 2007, Norman had pleaded guilty, but mentally ill, in Farmington's 2nd District Court to third-degree assault by an inmate. Subsequent competency reports at the time cleared Norman for trial, and he then changed his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.

Norman was convicted, and in August 2007, he was sent to Utah State Hospital for evaluation. In June 2008, having received a letter from the hospital staff declaring that he had "stabilized," Judge Michael Allphin placed him on three years of probation on the condition that he take prescribed medications and meet weekly with his probation officer — a condition later modified to put him under the oversight of Wasatch Mental Health.

Records indicate that, in January 2010, Norman had pleaded no contest in Spanish Fork's 4th District Court to a class A misdemeanor sexual-battery count. After Norman allegedly assaulted his public defender during a July appearance, a competency hearing was ordered. In September, Judge Donald Eyre found Norman incompetent to stand trial and ordered him to Utah State Hospital.

Sharif came to the United States in 1996 by way of a refugee camp in Kenya, said his cousin, Amina Sharif.

"We all came together, stayed in Texas for a while, and then moved to Utah in 1997," she said.

Omar Sharif's father died when he was quite young, and his mother lives in Somalia, she said.

Amina Sharif moved to Seattle in 2001 with her sisters and mother, Shobto Omar, who is Omar Sharif's paternal aunt.

"We left Omar in Utah because he was grown and able to live on his own. I'm not sure he was happy about it," she said.

Sharif got in trouble Jan. 20, 2009. Court documents indicate he boarded a Utah Transit Authority bus in Salt Lake City, yelling and behaving erratically. Sharif went to the bus driver and put his hands on her head and in her hair, the documents state.

The driver tried pushing him off the bus, and Sharif rubbed his hands on her neck and breasts, documents state. He was charged in state court with a felony count of trying to hijack a bus and a misdemeanor count of sexual battery.

Sharif's commitment surprised and frightened Amina Sharif.

"When I heard, I thought, 'This won't end up good.' I don't think he did drugs or anything. He was always protective of us. I know he wanted to move back to Somalia and missed his mom." —

A closer lookat Utah State Hospital

It is a nationally accredited, 359-bed institution for the mentally ill in Provo, with 801 employees and a $52.2 million annual budget.

Resident-to-staff ratios vary by unit and the time of day, with the average being 4-to-1.

The forensic unit is divided into four areas. Only one has single-occupancy rooms. It has been at capacity in recent months.

When patients are assessed at admission, officials look at safety, security and treatment needs and assign rooms accordingly.

Since 2002, there have been two patient suicides at the hospital. Last year, an employee killed himself.

The last known homicide at the hospital happened in 1990. Bette June Done, a 10-year food-services worker, died after being stabbed in the abdomen by a patient.

Source • Utah Departmentof Human Services