Saying Crown prosecutors were not able to present tangible evidence Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber participated in a conspiracy, their lawyers have filed for a dismissal. Lich and Barber face criminal charges of mischief, intimidation, obstruction, and counselling to commit the same offences not committed. They face 10 years of jail time. Early in the trial, which took 27 days and 16 witnesses for the Crown to present its case, Crown attorneys said they intend to try to implicate Lich and Barber under the Carter application, a conspiracy charge that means Lich would be charged for Barber’s words and actions and vice versa. Now, with the Crown abruptly wrapping its case against the convoy organizers Monday, the defence argues there has been no evidence because Lich and Barber’s actions weren’t illegal and moved to get the application thrown out altogether, as per Canadian Press. Witnesses complained about the noise from horns honking, the smells of diesel fumes and the general disruption in downtown Ottawa during the weeks of February 2022, but no criminal behaviour on the part of the organizers was mentioned. Barber was mentioned by witnesses a handful of times, but Lich was barely even mentioned at all. Hours of social media footage was played, again sometimes featuring Barber encouraging his fellow protestors to stay strong, but rarely did Lich ever make an appearance in the footage. Lich's lawyers say in the filing for dismissal the Crown's application should be thrown out because the Crown did not prove Lich and Barber agreed together (conspiratorially) to illegally protest COVID-19 restrictions. “To the extent there were any collective objectives on the part of the protesters, they were not inherently illegal,” Defence attorney Lawrence Greenspon and his colleagues wrote in the court document, pointing out that a murder or drug conspiracy is “inherently illegal” — travelling to Ottawa to protests COVID-19 mandates was not. “Similarly, there is no evidence of any of the leaders of the Freedom Convoy 2022 agreeing to pursue their ends by way of illegal activity,” the defence team wrote. “There is nothing illegal about encouraging others to come to or stay in Ottawa to protest lawfully. Lich does not encourage anyone to engage in any unlawful conduct at any time.”
Saying Crown prosecutors were not able to present tangible evidence Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber participated in a conspiracy, their lawyers have filed for a dismissal. Lich and Barber face criminal charges of mischief, intimidation, obstruction, and counselling to commit the same offences not committed. They face 10 years of jail time. Early in the trial, which took 27 days and 16 witnesses for the Crown to present its case, Crown attorneys said they intend to try to implicate Lich and Barber under the Carter application, a conspiracy charge that means Lich would be charged for Barber’s words and actions and vice versa. Now, with the Crown abruptly wrapping its case against the convoy organizers Monday, the defence argues there has been no evidence because Lich and Barber’s actions weren’t illegal and moved to get the application thrown out altogether, as per Canadian Press. Witnesses complained about the noise from horns honking, the smells of diesel fumes and the general disruption in downtown Ottawa during the weeks of February 2022, but no criminal behaviour on the part of the organizers was mentioned. Barber was mentioned by witnesses a handful of times, but Lich was barely even mentioned at all. Hours of social media footage was played, again sometimes featuring Barber encouraging his fellow protestors to stay strong, but rarely did Lich ever make an appearance in the footage. Lich's lawyers say in the filing for dismissal the Crown's application should be thrown out because the Crown did not prove Lich and Barber agreed together (conspiratorially) to illegally protest COVID-19 restrictions. “To the extent there were any collective objectives on the part of the protesters, they were not inherently illegal,” Defence attorney Lawrence Greenspon and his colleagues wrote in the court document, pointing out that a murder or drug conspiracy is “inherently illegal” — travelling to Ottawa to protests COVID-19 mandates was not. “Similarly, there is no evidence of any of the leaders of the Freedom Convoy 2022 agreeing to pursue their ends by way of illegal activity,” the defence team wrote. “There is nothing illegal about encouraging others to come to or stay in Ottawa to protest lawfully. Lich does not encourage anyone to engage in any unlawful conduct at any time.”
