Freedom Convoy trial of Lich, Barber headed to closing arguements
Closing arguments are ex‐ pected to be heard in Au‐ gust in the trial of two leaders of what became known as the Freedom Convoy.
Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are charged with mis‐ chief, intimidation and of‐ fences related to counselling others to break the law dur‐ ing the protest that took over downtown Ottawa for more than three weeks in early 2022.
The trial began in Septem‐ ber but has been slowed by delays. This week, lawyers for Lich and Barber announced they would not be calling any of their own evidence.
Final submissions are ex‐ pected to be heard Aug. 1315.
"We've reviewed the evi‐ dence that's been tendered by the Crown, it's been all subject to cross examina‐ tion," Lich's lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said outside of court Friday.
"We're of the view that there's nothing that really needs to be added or that should be added by the de‐ fence to the body of evidence that the Crown has presen‐ ted."
Pair 'crossed the line,' Crown says
Crown prosecutors Tim Radcliffe and Siobhain Wetscher argued the case is not about Lich and Barber's political views, but instead how they "crossed the line" in committing the crimes they're accused of.
They used police and resi‐ dent testimony, hours of video evidence, and moun‐ tains of social media content and text messages to argue the two accused had control and influence over the protest.
"We're looking forward to making final submissions be‐ fore the judge on the basis of that evidence," said Green‐ spon.
Defence lawyers have ar‐ gued throughout the trial that Lich and Barber worked with police and city officials, and remained peaceful dur‐ ing their time in Ottawa.
Most of the court time this week was spent debating how specific pieces of evi‐ dence will be viewed by the judge in making her decision.
Lawyers for Lich and Bar‐ ber accused the Crown of "cherry-picking" evidence, while prosecutors accused the defence of the same.
Trial beset by delays Arrested Feb. 17, 2022 one day before police started clearing downtown streets of people protesting COVID-19 rules and airing anti-govern‐ ment grievances - Lich and Barber have travelled to Ot‐ tawa from western Canada to attend their trial in person.
Barber, from Swift Cur‐ rent, Sask., was released a day after entering custody in 2022.
Lich, from Medicine Hat, Alta., spent 49 days in jail spread across two stints. The first followed her initial ar‐ rested, and the second fol‐ lowed her arrest on a Cana‐ da-wide warrant for violating her bail conditions.
Meant to decide whether and if so, how - the two should be punished for their role in the weeks-long protest that clogged the city's core and shook many resi‐ dents, the trial has been slowed by legal wrangling, technical delays, unprepared witnesses and issues over how police evidence was dis‐ closed. The judge will have six months to make a deci‐ sion once closing arguments end. A penalty for mischief carry a maximum sentence of 10 years.