The Tamara Lich and Chris Barber trial saw several delays Friday as the Crown attempted to enter further statements into evidence and delineate 2,000 pages of a 4,000-page document containing chats and call logs between the two defendants. .The judge, Justice Heather Perkins-McVey, asked the prosecutor why the court needs these “other statements,” with the Crown responding it wants Facebook documentation of Lich and Barber to be “admitted for the truth of their contents, as admissions, which are exceptions to the hearsay rule,” The Democracy Fund (TDF) tweeted Friday afternoon..The 'dump' of several thousand pages of call and chat logs has been delineated to refine a 2,000-page section of evidence to be used in the Crown’s prosecution of Lich and Barber..“Some posts, we have not seen them, are unattributed posts the Crown wants admitted as circumstantial evidence,” TDF said. “This is a Crown application. It looks like it is to admit Facebook posts. They must be relevant and admissible according to the laws of evidence..“The Crown wants the FB statements of Barber and Lich to be admitted for the truth of their contents, as admissions, which are exceptions to the hearsay rule,” TDF continued. “Wants to lead evidence about ‘cross-posting.’ This appears to be about Barber’s posts being posted and shared elsewhere.”.TDF explained the Crown “wants the court to rely upon this evidence for the Carter Application,” which is a test to determine whether Lich and Barber were members of a conspiracy..The goal of the Carter Application is to use Lich’s words and actions in court against Barber, and vice versa. This is where the Facebook posts come into play — the Crown intends to use the posts of each defendant against the other..“Crown wants to lead unattributed posts for the fact they were said. These are from unknown individuals,” TDF said. “Crown looking at posts about publicly provided legal advice. Not admitted for its truth because he disagrees with it. But wants to lead it for the fact that it was said.”.The Crown then addressed the “best evidence” rule, which is under the Canada Evidence Act..Finally, Diane Magas, counsel for Barber, addressed the conspiracy issue of the Carter Application. She pointed out that there is no charge of conspiracy in this case and asserted that it “should be considered a common unlawful design in the absence of a conspiracy charge.”.The judge ruled that the Carter Application “cannot be evolving” and wants a “complete Carter Application before the court on Monday,” TDF tweeted, “so defence can know what they are responding to.”.Perkins-McVey put “aside the application for now.”.The police were able to use special software to extract encrypted messages from the defendants’ smartphones, including Signal and WhatsApp..Lawrence Greenspon, counsel for Lich, argued that it is a “massive task to have to go through those ... 113 other chats,” and pointed out that it is an abuse of process for the prosecution to send tons of evidence on him through the disclosure, without specifying what the Crown intends to use in court..Now his team will have to review the hundreds of hours of video footage the first witness sifted through, only to show the court the more serious sides of the convoy and leaving out “the other side,” which included “bouncy castles,” “hockey,” and the “hugging of police officers.”.The judge said the Crown’s movement to submit “unattributed” posts, which means the author is unknown, as “circumstantial evidence” is “highly misleading” and even falls short of the criteria for hearsay..The Crown was asked what is its intent with the disclosure evidence, to which he replied, “We will let you know.”.“We are too late in the game for 'We will let you know,’” the judge responded. “You can't have hearsay circumstantial evidence.” .“Yes, you can,” replied the prosecutor..“I think that's where we disagree,” the judge said. .The judge and the Crown argued the admissibility of anonymous “social media” posts as criminal evidence in court..The court is on recess for the weekend and will return Monday morning.
