Kinder Morgan protesters who plead guilty face $500 fine: Crown
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 for 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.
He told the judge that the sentencing offer is restricted to individuals who have only been arrested once at the Burnaby work site 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 that 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, and does not 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 and Stewart 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 on Monday the judge indicated that those matters be moved forward to May 7.
For those who elect to plead not guilty, Shaw handed up to the judge a draft schedule for trials that will be held beginning on June 11 when 28 accused are expected to begin trial. Two other trials later in June for another 30 protesters are scheduled along with four trials in late July and into August that will deal with a total of 63 protesters. A final trial date of Oct. 1 is set for 56 protesters. The trials are being scheduled in the order of the days on which the protesters were arrested.