Organizers' fate now in judge's hands

Justice says making ruling is ‘daunting' due to complexity of legal arguments by Crown, defence

- LAURA OSMAN

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, pictured in 2022, argued they were exercising thei rights as part of a legal protest and did not break the law themselves.

After 45 days of evidence and legal arguments, the criminal trial of “Freedom Convoy” organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber is finally at an end.

But a verdict could be as much as six months away.

“I don’t know in this moment when I will be in a position to give my decision,” Justice Heather Perkins-McVey said Friday.

She said “it’s a little daunting,” given the unusually great volume of evidence and legal questions associated with the case.

Lich and Barber are co-accused of mischief, intimidation and counselling others to break the law for their role in the 2022 protest that drew thousands of demonstrators to Ottawa for three weeks.

Though the charges against the two appear straightforward, the trial has been anything but.

Originally scheduled to last just 16 days, the case has been mired in the complexity of the legal arguments, a huge body of evidence and disclosure delays that have dragged the proceedings out more than a year.