Judge in Coutts murder-conspiracy trial warns jury about defence statement
Global News
The judge reminded jurors in the Coutts border blockade trial on Friday that theories presented by the Crown or defence are not evidence.
The judge in the trial of two men charged with conspiracy to commit murder at the border blockade at Coutts, Alta., has cautioned the jury about an opening statement by a defence lawyer.
Marilyn Burns said Thursday the accused were worried politicians were leading Canadians into a civil war or a totalitarian state and that they would have to defend themselves.
She called the trial political and “un-Canadian,” and she alleged police took orders from politicians and lied under oath as witnesses in the case.
“There is no evidence that either the police or the Crown or the court has been acting under the influence of the political sphere,” Justice David Labrenz told the jury Friday.
Labrenz said the jury’s only job is to determine, based on the evidence, whether the Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt the charges against Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert.
The judge reminded jurors that theories presented by the Crown or defence are not evidence. He said Burns, who represents Olienick, was not speaking on behalf of Carbert.
The two men were arrested after police seized weapons, ammunition and body armour from trailers at Coutts in 2022.
The blockade tied up traffic for two weeks at the busy Canada-U.S. border crossing in a protest of COVID-19 measures and vaccine mandates.
