Jurors deciding the fate of two men accused of conspiring to murder police at the Coutts, Alta., border crossing were urged by a judge Wednesday to block out background noise in the high-profile case.
Justice David Labrenz told jurors to focus on the evidence.
“Try and reach a just verdict,” Labrenz said in his final instructions in the Court of King’s Bench trial in Lethbridge, Alta.
The jury was expected to be sequestered later Wednesday to reach a verdict in the case of Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert.
The men were arrested after police confiscated weapons and made arrests in shutting down the blockade in early 2022.
The barricade of vehicles at the Canada-U.S. border crossing choked off traffic for two weeks to protest COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates.
It was one of many demonstrations at the time across the country, as rules aimed at restricting the spread of COVID-19 butted up against individual rights and freedoms.
The Crown presented evidence of guns near the blockade site and statements and text messages from the accused warning that the protest was a last stand against a tyrannical federal government.
The defence argued the two men went to Coutts to make a statement that freedoms must be protected.
Court heard comments from the accused disparaging police, but the defence said that doesn’t equate to a conspiracy to kill.