Defence lawyers Eric Granger and Lawrence Greenspon have launched their case arguing against the Crown prosecution in the trial of Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber. Lich and Barber face charges of mischief, obstruction and intimidation, as well as counselling to commit the same offences not committed. What was scheduled to be a 16-day trial, which kicked off September 5, has ballooned to 29 court dates and counting. The Crown early on in the trial established its intention to pursue the Carter application, a conspiracy charge that would make Barber’s words and actions apply to Lich and vice versa — meaning one could be charged for the other’s offences. However, Justice Heather Perkins-McVey does not seem sold by the application, which demands specific criteria, including that there has to be a proven agreement and attempt by the co-conspirators to engage in an inherently illegal action. None of the Crown’s 16 witnesses had any interaction with Lich whatsoever and she only appeared in video footage from the convoy presented in court a handful of times — the most offensive thing she was caught on tape saying was “hold the line.”.Grainger argued an “overarching commonality of purpose” was not enough to support the Carter application, per Matthew Horwood's tweets from the courtroom. "Ultimately, our submission is what's required in order to invoke the co-conspirators exception, if there's something more, a plan that's more focused and specific than an overarching commonality of purpose," Grainger said Monday. “There needs to be a very specific plan or common design that's criminal in nature.”“That's where we ultimately are to say that the evidence falls short of establishing circumstantial evidence and agreement between more than one individual to engage in one of the various criminal plans alleged by the Crown,” he said. Perkins-McVey, who will have to determine what exactly the utterance means for her to make the final ruling, said the phrase could “mean a lot of different things” such as staying “true” to one’s “convictions and conscience.” One of the Facebook Live videos submitted in court evidence portrays Lich giving a speech that sums up the purpose of the Freedom Convoy and her personal motivations for participating as an organizer — she also explicitly told demonstrators the protest was not for inciting violence or making threats..Lich was clear the throngs of people gathering in Ottawa were to protest the government's COVID-19 mandates and nothing else. She even said those who stepped out of order civilly would be reported to the police. “I just want to put it out there that nobody in this convoy will be inciting violence or uttering threats,” Lich said in the video, per Horwood's reporting. “That is not what we're here to do. If you see anybody trying to associate themselves with us that is acting in that way, you need to get their truck number and their license plate and report it to the police or get it to us and we'll report it to the police.”“Violence and threats are not our mandate,” she continued. “We are going here to hopefully speak to some people to get all these mandates lifted, so that you can run your businesses without impediment, so you can have your best friend, so that you can go to class, so you can eat in a restaurant, so you can fly in a plane across the country to see your parents." "This is what this is all about. This is about your rights and freedoms and we are not here to be violent or anything like that. That is not our mission. That is not our mandate."
