2012-05-15
A Toronto G20 protester was found not guilty today on all charges of possessing explosives and counselling mischief stemming for a police sweep in June 2010.
Byron Sonne was arrested during the massive police sweep of his Toronto home, just days before the G20 summit was set to open.
On Tuesday, Justice Nancy Spies said the Crown had not proven any of the charges against the 39-year-old, self-described security expert.
The judge told the Toronto court there’s no evidence to suggest Sonne meant to create explosives or cause any real damage at the G20, and that if he were intending to build a bomb, he probably wouldn’t do it inside his own home.
The decision means Sonne is immediately free, although he has been out on bail for the past year.
Sonne spent 11 months in detention.
In June 2010, police seized numerous chemicals at his upscale home that they said he planned to make into bombs.
Sonne said they were for his rocketry hobby.
He also maintained he was trying to expose security gaps in the $1-billion summit security setup.
No bombs found
At trial, his lawyer Joe Di Luca told the judge that suggestions Sonne was planning to blow up the summit flew in the face of his openly stated intentions to expose security gaps.
Police found no bombs when they arrested Sonne, but they did seize an array of legal chemicals, including various acids and hexamine fuel tablets along with laboratory apparatus.
They also seized potato guns from his cottage.
Sonne was charged with four counts of possessing explosives, and one of counselling mischief not committed in relation to his apparent urging of others to scale the security fence set up around the summit site.
Spies said that on each count, the Crown had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Court saw hundreds of photographs Sonne took of surveillance cameras, police and the security fence set up downtown —many posted online on photo-sharing sites — along with suggestions he made on how to scale the barrier.
The Crown’s case rested heavily on one explosives expert, who testified that Sonne had the materials to make a bomb within hours or days that would be big enough to destroy a bus.
5 other charges dropped
Prosecutor Liz Nadeau portrayed him as someone obsessed with explosives and the summit who was anarchist friendly, and wanted to “stick it to the system.”
The rocketry hobby, she said, was only a ruse to obscure his more nefarious intentions.
She argued the prosecution only needed to prove Sonne planned to make bombs, not that he actually had them or what he wanted to do with them.
Still, Di Luca said the Crown was implying Sonne, who had no criminal record, planned to attack the summit even though there was no evidence to back that up.
Sonne’s artist wife, Kristen Peterson, was also arrested, although charges against her were dropped. The couple has since split up and Sonne has been living with his parents, who regularly attended the proceedings, as have several supporters who considered him a political prisoner.
The Crown previously dropped five other charges, including mischief, possession of a dangerous weapon and intimidating a justice system participant.