Demonstrators gather as a truck convoy blocks the highway the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., on Jan. 31, 2022.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Jurors considering whether two men who participated in a border blockade in Coutts, Alta., are guilty of conspiring to murder police should not take into account the strong anti-government views or alternative world views expressed by the men, the judge in the case has instructed.
In his charge to the jury Wednesday, Court of King’s Bench Justice David Labrenz said any evidence of perceived “bad character” during the two-month trial cannot be used to assume the guilt of Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert, no matter how shocking or distasteful.
He used the examples of Mr. Olienick’s statement during a police interview that he would like to see Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hanged for treason and Mr. Carbert’s expectation that a civil war will eventually erupt in Canada because of government tyranny. Justice Labrenz said some jurors may not agree with those perspectives and might even conclude the men have committed crimes they are not charged with. But the judge stressed that is not their job to determine.
“They’ve been charged with a conspiracy to murder, not in general, but the specific conspiracy to murder police officers at Coutts. That is the conspiracy that you are considering and no other,” Justice Labrenz said.
Jurors began their deliberations on Wednesday evening.
Mr. Olienick and Mr. Carbert were charged by the RCMP in February, 2022, after a cache of firearms, ammunition and body armour was seized in trailers near the highway protest in Coutts. The demonstration, during which hundreds of vehicles clogged the Canada-U. S. border in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions, ended abruptly when the alleged plot became known.
Both men are also facing charges of mischief and possession of a firearm for dangerous purposes. Mr. Olienick faces an additional charge of possession of an explosive substance, which has been described during the trial as two pipe bombs found by police at his property.
Justice Labrenz told jurors they must consider the guilt of Mr. Olienick and Mr. Carbert individually. He instructed them to take into account evidence only from trial and to disregard any outside information, such as newspaper, radio or television media.
“You must consider the evidence and make your decision on a rational and fair consideration of all of the evidence and not on passion or sympathy or prejudice against the accused, the Crown or anyone else connected with the case,” he said in a courtroom filled with supporters of the accused. “You must not be influenced by public opinion.”
Katherin Beyak, the lawyer for Mr. Carbert, told the jury during her closing remarks Tuesday that her client is guilty of mischief, but she pushed back against the other charges. Defence counsel for both men have argued separately that their clients were not involved in a violent plot but were instead swept up in a severely flawed police investigation.
The Crown, in its closing statement, contended the duo were involved in bringing guns and ammunition into Coutts as part of a broader plan to harm police. Multiple witnesses, including three undercover female officers, wiretaps and electronic communications scraped from the phones of Mr. Olienick, Mr. Carbert and others were presented at the trial.
The burden of proof required for the jury to convict one or both men for conspiracy to commit murder relies on two essential elements: that there was a conspiracy to begin with and that the accused were part of that conspiracy, explained Justice Labrenz. A conspiracy requires a genuine agreement between two or more people to commit a crime.
“The conspirators do not have to agree on all the details of the crime or how they will carry it out. They do not need to know the exact scope of the agreement,” he said.
“You must decide whether the Crown has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the agreement was to commit to the indictable offence of murder.”
The pair on trial were among four people originally charged.
Jerry Morin and Christopher Lysak both pleaded guilty to lesser offences in February. Mr. Morin received a 3.25-year sentence for conspiring to traffic firearms, while Mr. Lysak was handed three years for possession of a firearm in an unauthorized place. Both sentences were satisfied with time served in remand.