The Alberta Court of Appeal has upheld the convictions of two men convicted of mischief and weapons offences during a border blockade at Coutts, Alta., in protest of COVID-19 mandates in 2022.
In an Oct. 1 decision, the court dismissed appeals from Chris Carbert and Anthony Olienick, who challenged their convictions for possessing weapons for a dangerous purpose. Olienick also appealed his conviction for unlawfully possessing an explosive.
A jury convicted the men in August 2024 but acquitted them of conspiring to murder police officers. Neither man appealed his mischief conviction for obstructing the highway.
The appeals focused largely on whether police lawfully gathered evidence and whether the trial judge should have excluded it….