The trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber concluded its third week of hearings on Friday and will now take a two-week break..Justice Heather Perkins-McVey will recall court Wednesday, October 11, with September 29 set as the deadline to approve or not approve the evidence presented during the voir dire (trial within a trial) sections of the trial..Friday was Day 13 of what was originally scheduled to be a 16-day trial. Perkins-McVey scheduled an extra 10 court days on top of that, bringing the total to an anticipated 26 days. .So far, the hearings have spun from one voir dire to the next, with Crown witnesses appearing in court unprepared. Several of them have testified to have “no notes,” and instead would rely on their “memory” or notes written by “other officers.”.Kim Ayotte, general manager of emergency and protective services at the City of Ottawa, “brought no notes to the witness stand,” The Democracy Fund tweeted from the courtroom Tuesday. “He states that he intends to rely only on his memory for events that occurred roughly 19 months ago.”.Later, Ayotte said he had important notes that he had left in his office. .Crown witness Captain Ettienne Martel of the Sûreté du Québec appeared on the stand on Monday. He also had no notes and spoke through interpreters, one of which was dismissed after defence lawyers continually had to correct their translation before the judge. .Martel wanted to use notes he had brought, but didn’t write himself. Instead, they were prepared by a “team of crowd control officers.”.“One is a five-page log, the other is an Excel spreadsheet,” tweeted Aedan Helmer from the courtroom. “He has no written notes or a typed investigative report and says three police squads were dispatched from Quebec.”.Lawrence Greenspon, counsel for Tamara Lich, asked Martel if he prepared any notes himself..“No,” Martel replied. .Greenspon asked Martel if he made any notes when he attended two briefings. .“No,” he said again. .Crown witness Serge Arpin, former chief of staff for Jim Watson, former Ottawa mayor, breached court rules and contacted Crown attorneys Thursday evening. .Perkins-McVey has shown her impatience with the Crown on several occasions, from being “very unhappy” with it the first week, and questioning the relevancy of evidence presented by the Crown ever since. .She continuously had to pause the trial so the witness can step out of the courtroom and she can address yet another blunder by the Crown, such as neglecting to send the defence counsels “over 1,000 emails” as part of its disclosure — which led to yet another voir dire. .Further, Ayotte testified he was “fearful for the safety of our officers”, not knowing “what the intent was” of the protesters..When he was asked where he got the idea, he said “I know this from watching protests around the world and from what Chief Sloly said, not to be a point of contact.”.Defence counsel Greenspon objected and Perkins-McVey said, “Yes, that’s hearsay.”.Once again the witness had to leave the room. .“It’s not hearsay,” the Crown said. .“Well the way he phrased it, based on his understanding from what occurred across North America and from what Chief Sloly said,” the judge said. .“It’s irrelevant before the court,” Diane Magas, counsel for Barber, argued. “His need to protect his employees has nothing to do with these accused.”.“There was a responsibility on the part of the Crown Attorney to stop using words like riot because he knows they are not the truth to the context,” Greenspon added. “Because now we know what the media is gonna say tonight!" .“He is entitled to give his evidence of why he needed to protect his employees,” the Crown replied. .“It’s inflammatory in terms of the responses,” Magas said. “People being afraid. It’s inflammatory.” .“It’s very high-level, maybe we need to check his decision making power,” the judge said.
