Decide says convicted blockaders had been prepared for shootout with police

LETHBRIDGE — An Alberta decide says proof exhibits two males convicted for his or her roles on the 2022 border blockade close to Coutts, Alta., had been prepared for a shootout with police.

Justice David Labrenz stated Tuesday that whereas a jury discovered Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert not responsible of conspiring to homicide police on the blockade, it did discover the pair responsible of mischief and possessing a weapon for a harmful objective.

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Olienick was additionally discovered responsible of possessing a pipe bomb.

The decide informed court docket he accepts the verdicts as proof the jury believed each males introduced weapons, ammunition and physique armour to the two-week standoff not simply to indicate off or hunt animals however for a extra sinister objective.

“It was to assist the blockade and to interact in a struggle with police if it got here to that eventuality,” Labrenz stated.

“The abundance of stay ammunition, the medical package, the ballistic vests should not supportive of displaying off firearms or looking coyotes.

“They’re supportive of a struggle with police.”

The boys had been arrested in February 2022 on the blockade, which tied up site visitors on the Canada-U.S. border crossing to protest COVID-19 guidelines and vaccine mandates.

Picture provided by RCMP on Jan. 14, 2022, exhibits a big assortment of weapons and ammunition seized throughout a crackdown close to the Canada/U.S. border at Coutts. Courtesy RCMP

The jury reached its verdicts Aug. 2, following a two-month trial. Given the explanations for jury verdicts are secret, the decide should decide the details he believes underlie the selections.

The sentencing listening to is to proceed Thursday.

On Monday, Crown and defence legal professionals made arguments about how the decide ought to interpret the verdicts.

Labrenz’s choice echoed the Crown’s submission that the weapons convictions point out jurors believed the boys had been ready to battle with police.

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The boys provided extra benign explanations at trial.

Carbert informed court docket he introduced his new rifles to hunt coyotes and to indicate off.

He additionally downplayed textual content messages to his mom speaking about an upcoming struggle he may not survive.

Labrenz stated these statements should not believable, including that Carbert lied on the stand in pre-trial hearings.

“Mr. Carbert demonstrated then, as now, that he’s ready to lie below oath when it fits him to take action,” Labrenz stated.

“I conclude that Mr. Carbert, like Mr. Olienick, was ready to interact in a firefight with police.

“This was an exceedingly harmful state of affairs.”

Coutts border blockade — Anti COVID mandate demonstrators collect as a truck convoy blocks the freeway on the U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., Feb. 1, 2022. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

The decide stated he additionally accepted as true Olienick’s feedback to feminine undercover Mounties, wherein he stated he considered the blockade as a struggle, that weapons had been wanted for credibility and that he want to slit Mountie throats.

Olienick’s lawyer, Marilyn Burns, steered the proof was tainted as a result of the undercover officers flirted with Olienick to elicit info.

Burns pointed to coronary heart emojis on some texts between Olienick and an officer.

Labrenz stated coronary heart emojis are sometimes used to agree with one thing somebody has written.

“I discover no foundation to conclude that the operators used romance or another such distasteful connectivity to induce conversations. (I’m additionally) not clear how it might induce anyone to say what they stated,” the decide stated.

“I merely discover that suggestion to be offensive.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Aug. 27, 2024.

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