From Canadian Press:
TORONTO – A Toronto judge lambasted the government Wednesday for its prosecution of an 89-year-old peace activist who refused to fill out the 2011 census, and found her not guilty.
Audrey Tobias admitted that she refused to fill out the basic personal information the census required because it was processed using software from U.S. military contractor Lockheed Martin.
But the judge noted there are two elements that the Crown must prove for a conviction: the act and the intent.
Tobias’s testimony left Ontario Court Judge Ramez Khawly unsure whether she was accurately recalling her intent for refusing the census nearly 2 1/2 years ago, or if the passage of time has “dimmed her memory.”
That left Khawly with reasonable doubt of Tobias’s intent and he said he therefore must acquit her.
But the Department of Justice didn’t have to go along with prosecuting an elderly peace activist who was a “model citizen,” Khawly said.
“Could they not have found a more palatable profile to prosecute as a test case?” Khawly said.
“I mean, really, could the defence have scripted anything better for their cause? Did no one at Justice clue in that on a public relations perspective, this was an unmitigated disaster? Are they that myopic that they could not see the train wreck ahead?”
Tobias was a photogenic “martyr in the making,” Khawly said.
“Anyone in Justice who had not seen that coming should be ushered immediately into an introductory marketing course,” he said.
Full story here:
