Jury in murder-conspiracy trial to hear final arguments on Coutts blockade

LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA — Lawyers are set to make final arguments to a jury today in the trial of two men accused of conspiring to murder police at the 2022 border blockade at Coutts, Alta.

Jurors have been hearing evidence for seven weeks in the case against Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert.

Both men were charged after a cache of guns, body armour and ammunition was found in trailers at Coutts.

The blockade tied up traffic for two weeks at the busy Canada-U.S. border crossing to protest COVID-19 rules and vaccine mandates.

The Crown has argued the two men were going to use the blockade as a launch pad to start a revolution and were prepared to use violence against the RCMP.

The defence has said the accused were worried about losing their individual rights and freedoms, but there was no plan to do police harm.

Jurors are expected to start their deliberations Wednesday.

Olienick’s lawyer has told the trial her client believed people in Coutts were afraid of being attacked by RCMP. Carbert testified he had no knowledge of a conspiracy and some inflammatory things he said were just a dumb mistake.

Undercover officers testified Olienick told them he considered police pawns of “devil” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and that if police stormed the blockade he would “slit their throats.”

Text messages exchanged among protesters suggested many were ready to make a last stand at the blockade. But after police made arrests and seized weapons, remaining demonstrators packed up and left peacefully.

Carbert and Olienick are also charged with mischief and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, while Olienick faces a further charge of possessing a pipe bomb.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2024.

— By Bill Graveland in Calgary

The Canadian Press