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Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Coutts conspiracy trial, week one

Week 1 of the trial of the Coutts 2  (Tony Olienick and Christ Carbert) on charges of conspiracy to murder police consisted mainly of testimony from three undercover RCMP officers.

Coutts Two Trial Begins With Evidence that is Primarily Hearsay | The Intrepid Viking | Roxanne Halverson, Substack:

June 20, 2024 - "[F]inally, on Thursday June 13, 2024 the trial of the Coutts Two, who had previously been known as the Coutts Four began in earnest.... On trial on charges of conspiracy to commit murder of police (RCMP members) are Tony Olienick and Chris Carbert. They are two Alberta men who were caught in a dragnet of RCMP operations and raids that occurred during the Coutts border blockade protest just outside of the border town of Coutts, Alberta, which was part of the larger Freedom Convoy protest which took place in Ottawa in February of 2022. Protesters were calling for an end to the draconian COVID mandates and restrictions that had been imposed on Canadians by the federal and provincial governments for two long years. 

"Olienick and Carbert were arrested and charged with the conspiracy to murder police along with two other men – Jerry Morin and Chris Lysak. However, this past February, after spending 723 days in custody as they were denied bail, all the original charges against Morin and Lysak were suddenly dropped as they plead[ed] guilty to minor firearms offences.... All four of these men, according to the RCMP, were identified as ‘key’ members of a larger ‘cell’ of bad actors involved in a plot to overthrow the Canadian government. In media briefings the RCMP indicated that there were other ‘unidentified suspects’ of a purported ‘criminal organization’ that the four men allegedly belonged to. Yet, despite assurances by RCMP brass that these ‘unidentified suspects’ would also be rounded up through the intrepid investigative efforts of the RCMP, no such suspects were ever found, or were arrests ever made.... 

"So why, one might ask, has it taken two years to bring the case to trial? After all, under Canada’s justice system, the accused are entitled to a speedy trial. One would think that even a year’s delay in bringing a case to trial would seem unduly long, particularly when said suspects were not granted bail – in the justice system, where under the Trudeau government, bail is even granted to accused cop killers. Yet, now that it’s been two years no one has even batted an eye over this travesty. Not the justice system, not the government and certainly not the media.... 

"The Crown in its opening statements to the jury, which were widely reported in the mainstream media, who now have taken a sudden interest in the case after two years of wilfully ignoring it, were quite dramatic. The Crown prosecutor who gave the opening statement, Matt Dalidowicz told the jury that Olienick and Carbert had, indeed, conspired to kill police officers and believed they were justified in doing so.... According to the Crown, the RCMP faced a 'challenging situation' when the blockade began in January of 2020. He then went on to explain that ... they learned more through their undercover officers (UCO). Those would be three attractive female RCMP members they had assigned to investigate the activities at the Coutts blockade. Dalidowicz told the jury that these UCOs had ... 'discovered a plot to kill police officers, if police enforce the law to end the blockade'.... 

"But there is one fly in the ointment regarding the Crown’s assertions about this ‘plot'. It is predicated on the testimonies and evidence of what these three UCOs ‘uncovered’ and undoubtedly reported to their superiors, one would think. Yet, these police women, who were given this assignment, to investigate, infiltrate and gather evidence on any suspicious activities around the protest, used no wires or recording devices to record the conversations of, or with, any of the protesters. So, it is only their memories and perhaps notes of what they observed or heard that they are relying on.... Strangely enough as the mainstream media were recounting the testimonies of these UCO’s and their ‘conversations’, primarily with Tony Olienick, they didn’t think to mention that none of the evidence they presented could be backed up with recordings of said conversations. The were reporting it as though it did come from wiretaps or recordings, but that has been par for the course on the mainstream media’s laziness in reporting on this case....

"Because these RCMP members continue to operate as UCOs in other operations, their identities had to be protected, therefore they gave their testimonies in a separate courtroom where only the judge, lawyers, the jury, the defendants and the courtroom staff were present. The public and media remained in another courtroom where they could only hear the audio of their testimonies. During their testimonies they were asked whether the RCMP generally used wiretaps and body cameras during undercover operations, to which they replied they usually did. As to why they did not do so in Coutts, their only answer was that did not know, and that someone else would have to answer that question.... 

"The testimonies of the three seemed to focus in on Olienick who seemed to have interacted with them more than the other men. As a matter of fact they all indicated they had little, if any contact with Carbert, which causes one to wonder why he is on trial at all. Many of the things the UCOs testified to in their conversations with Olienick seemed to centre more on how he felt about the police presence there, rather than any particular plot against them. Any such words spoken by Oienick in that regard could also be open to misinterpretation and innuendo as was revealed under cross examination by the defence.

"But coming back to Chris Carbert, who[m] the UCO’s admit they had little if any contact with. Where or how does he fit into the picture? Well, the Crown’s problem is that ... in a ‘conspiracy’ charge, more than one person has to be involved in the plot. When Lysak and Morin were offered and took a plea deal, that left only Carbert and Olienick to keep the ‘conspiracy’ charge alive. So, it would seem that Carbert is being brought along simply to secure such a conviction. But if the evidence against Carbert is so thin, how can a jury possibly convict him? And if they can’t convict him, then how can they convict Olienick, alone, on a conspiracy charge? That seems to be quite a conundrum. How the Crown plans to tackle that conundrum remains to be seen."

Read more: https://roxannehalverson.substack.com/p/coutts-two-trial-begins-with-evidence

On-the-ground: Recap of Day 1 at the Trial of The 4 Coutts Men Accused of Conspiracy to Murder RCMP | Media Bezirgan | July 24, 2023:

 

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