Kinder Morgan protesters who plead guilty face $500 fine

VANCOUVER — Kinder Morgan protesters who decide to plead guilty to criminal contempt of court will face a $500 fine, a prosecutor said Monday.

Crown counsel Trevor Shaw said that the sentencing position of the Crown toward those who admit to violating a court injunction against interfering with the controversial pipeline project will be the fine, subject to their ability to pay.

“If the offender is unable to pay, our position is that an order of 25 hours of community service, under the direction of a probation officer, should be served,” Shaw told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Affleck.

“We believe that this initial sentencing position is in keeping with the sentencing range for similar conduct and recognizes the effect of an early guilty plea.”

Shaw said that the amount of the fine was arrived at after careful consideration including a review of similar cases, including the protests at a construction site at Eagleridge Bluffs in West Vancouver and logging protests at Clayoquot Sound.

He told the judge that the sentencing offer to the protesters is restricted to individuals who have only been arrested once at the Burnaby worksite since March 17, the first day of recent protests, and for those who were arrested before April 16, which was when the Crown announced it would be carrying out criminal prosecutions.

Shaw said the offer also applies only to people who have no prior convictions for contempt of court or administration of justice offences in the past five years, and to people who acted peaceably when they were arrested by the RCMP.

The prosecutor said that it does not apply to people who are accused of related acts of violence or property damage at the site. Nor does it apply to the two federal MPs — Elizabeth May and Kennedy Stewart — who were also arrested but whose cases are being dealt with separately by special prosecutors.

May, leader of the federal Green Party and the MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands, and Stewart, NDP MP for Burnaby South, and the two special prosecutors are scheduled to be back in court on April 30.

Initially, the protesters were told that they could enter guilty pleas as early as April 30, but the judge indicated that he might not be available that week.