'Coutts Four' found not guilty of conspiracy to murder RCMP officers during Freedom Convoy border block

An Alberta jury Friday found two of the "Coutts Four" not guilty of plotting to murder RCMP officers during the border blockade at Coutts, Alta. Over a dozen protesters stopped cross-border traffic between Alberta and Montana for two weeks in February 2022 as part of the national Freedom Convoy protest against the Trudeau government's Covid mandates.

But Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert were convicted on other charges of mischief and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Olienick was also convicted of possessing a pipe bomb.

The four were arrested on Feb. 14, the day that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the infamous Emergencies Act to suppress the anti-mandate protests, after the RCMP claimed to link a cache of weapons with the Coutts blockade.

When the jury acquitted the two men of the more serious charges, "there was a loud gasp in the packed courtroom in Lethbridge," according to CBC News.

Coutts Four members Chris Lysak and Jerry Morin, Olienick, and Carbert all faced the conspiracy to commit murder charge along with possession of a weapon for dangerous purposes and mischief over $5,000. Police also charged Lysak with uttering threats.

Lysak and Morin accepted a plea deal last February in order to have the conspiracy charge dropped. Carbert has been jailed since his arrest with the prosecution unwilling to grant him bail.

Carbert's lawyer Katherin Beyak, noted that after 900 days in jail, her client should be released from detention before his Aug. 12, 2024 sentencing date.

"Sentencing for the crimes my client has been found guilty of are at or beyond time served, and I request a bail hearing as soon as possible," said Beyak.