Third Moncton pandemic protester acquitted

A judge has acquitted a Riverview man accused of violating New Brunswick's pandemic restrictions last year at a protest against those measures.

Provincial court Judge Luc Labonté issued a directed verdict, ending the case against David Robert West on Wednesday morning. It echoed a decision in the cases against two others arrested that day issued by a different judge earlier this month.

"He was there to protest what he perceived was an unlawful act of the legislature," the judge said.

The decision brings to an end a series of connected cases against five people charged following the Jan. 24, 2021 protest outside Moncton city hall.

West was ticketed under the province's Emergency Measures Act. It was alleged he participated in a gathering of five or more people while not wearing a mask and without being physically distanced.

West sought a directed verdict after the Crown finished presenting evidence. He argued the Crown had failed to prove all of the essential elements of the charge, and that a protest was not prohibited by the province's restrictions in place at the time.

The mandatory order that set out the restrictions defined gatherings as having a common purpose associated with socializing, celebration, ceremony or entertainment.

"I cannot speculate whether the provincial legislature contemplated that the definition of gathering should include a protest, or if it was simply an oversight," Labonté said in his decision.

"Perhaps it was understood that a lawful and peaceful demonstration, which is a cornerstone of a democratic society, should be permitted."

The judge said the definition in the mandatory order didn't include West's actions that day. Since that meant one essential element of the charge couldn't be proven against West — taking part in a gathering of more than five people — the judge granted the motion for a directed verdict.

The judge, when West had requested the directed verdict in May, suggested the law might be over-broad if it had been intended to restrict protests.

West told reporters outside court Labonté's decision was what he expected given the similar outcome in the cases against Britney Green and Nicholas DeAngelis.

West also faces four criminal charges related to an incident at Moncton's Main Street Superstore on Dec. 31, 2020.

That trial is scheduled for June 13-14, 2023. A trial on an alleged violation of the Emergency Measures Act related to the same incident is already underway.