Protesters Acquitted of Conspiracy to Kill Mounties at Coutts Blockade
A jury returned a verdict of not guilty late Friday for two men accused of conspiring to kill RCMP officers at the border blockade at Coutts, Alta.
However, Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert were both convicted on other charges of mischief and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Olienick was also convicted of possessing a pipe bomb.
The two were arrested after police discovered a cache of weapons, ammunition, and body armour near the blockade at the Canada-U.S. border crossing in 2022. The blockade was one of several held across the country to protest COVID-19 rules and vaccine mandates.
During the trial, statements and text messages from the accused were presented, indicating that the blockade was seen as a last stand against a tyrannical federal government.
There was a loud gasp in the packed courtroom in Lethbridge, Alta., as the jury announced the acquittal of the most serious charge: conspiracy to commit murder. The men showed little emotion, and the case was adjourned until Aug. 12 to address the convictions on the lesser charges.
Emotional Public Debate
The trial proved challenging for jurors and mirrored the tense, emotional public debate over pandemic rules and freedoms.
Four days into the trial in early June, jurors parking their cars in front of the courthouse were greeted with a message scrawled in chalk on a sidewalk: “840 Days Plus Already, Let the Coutts Boys Out of Jail Now.”
Two similar messages had been left on the other side of the courthouse the day before a British Columbia man was charged with obstruction of justice and banned from the courthouse.
The judge rejected a defense request for a mistrial.
Carbert’s lawyer, Katherin Beyak, said outside the courthouse after the verdicts that her client was relieved but still in shock. She affirmed that the jury made the right decision in acquitting him of the murder conspiracy charge.
“It was an overcharge to begin with,” Beyak stated.
Marilyn Burns, Olienick’s lawyer, said she was not surprised the men were found not guilty of conspiring to kill police.
“I’ve never believed since taking this file on that there was evidence that would support a finding of guilt in that,” she said, noting her client has been in custody for more than two years.
Two other protesters were also charged with conspiracy to commit murder at Coutts. In February, Christopher Lysak and Jerry Morin pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
Lysak was sentenced to three years for possession of a restricted firearm in an unauthorized place, and Morin was sentenced to 3.5 years for conspiracy to traffic firearms. Both sentences amounted to time the men had already served in pretrial custody.
