XPost: can.politics, tor.general, ont.politics   
   XPost: bc.politics   
   From: "@nyet.ca   
      
   Robocalls. . . .   
      
   The Harper government silenced all those people who were asked by   
   Elections Canada for information.  Because there was nothing in the   
   Elections Act to compel those people to comply with the request, they   
   refused.  'When they ask, don't talk' was the instruction from the Con   
   government.   
      
   And this is where the court case has come to - because of the way the   
   'open and accountable' Harper government works. . . .   
   _____________________________________________________   
   — CP — Jun 9 2014   
      
   Sona likely didn’t act alone, says Crown   
      
      
   	Defendant Michael Sona walks to the courthouse in Guelph, ON,   
   Wednesday, June 4, 2014, the the Robocalls trial. THE CANADIAN   
   PRESS/Dave Chidley   
      
   GUELPH, Ont. - Crown lawyers and Michael Sona's defence team agreed   
   Monday it's likely multiple people were behind the thousands of   
   misleading robocalls that went out to Liberal supporters on the morning   
   of the 2011 federal election.   
      
   They also agree there are key questions about the fraud that may forever   
   go unanswered — and that one of the key witnesses who testified against   
   Sona may have provided his trial with dubious testimony.   
      
   Both sides wrapped up their closing arguments Monday: the Crown argued   
   Sona is clearly linked to the robocalls scandal, while the defence   
   insisted the evidence doesn't definitively prove who was involved in the   
   scheme.   
      
   On Aug. 14, some 39 months after misleading automated calls went out to   
   6,700 phone lines in Guelph, Ont., Justice Gary Hearn will rule on   
   whether Sona is guilty of "wilfully preventing or endeavouring to   
   prevent an elector from voting."   
      
   "Your Honour should be looking at proof of actions," said Sona's lawyer   
   Norm Boxall, who elected to call no witnesses after the Crown introduced   
   its evidence.   
      
   Boxall told court his client isn't required by law to prove his   
   innocence, and said the Crown failed to make its case beyond a   
   reasonable doubt.   
      
   "I think there's more unanswered questions than answered questions."   
      
   A mysterious figure used the fake names Pierre Poutine and Pierre Jones,   
   along with untraceable prepaid credit cards and a disposable cellphone,   
   to order an automated telephone campaign with the company RackNine Inc.,   
   court heard.   
      
   Sona lacked the technical savvy to orchestrate the complicated plot,   
   said Boxall, arguing Andrew Prescott — a colleague of Sona's who had   
   experience with ordering robocalls — is a more likely suspect.   
      
   Prescott testified against Sona last week in exchange for immunity, but   
   even the Crown acknowledged it doesn't fully accept his evidence, Boxall   
   said.   
      
   During his own closing arguments, Crown attorney Croft Michaelson's told   
   Hearn more than once that Prescott's testimony "should probably be   
   approached with caution."   
      
   "In my submission, Mr. Prescott is just not credible," said Boxall, who   
   noted that his answers to questions changed over time and he was not   
   fully forthcoming with the Crown until he secured an immunity deal.   
      
   "Mr. Prescott is deflecting responsibility from himself and perhaps others."   
      
   In his testimony, Prescott recalled seeing a cellphone on Sona's desk   
   that resembled the type used to order the robocalls, Boxall noted — an   
   observation he never mentioned to investigators.   
      
   Boxall also questioned another key anecdote in which Prescott said Sona   
   emerged from his cubicle on the morning of the election, saying   
   excitedly, "It's working."   
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   Prescott was the only one who testified to seeing Sona in the office   
   that morning, Boxall said.  Nor could anyone else corroborate Prescott's   
   claim that Sona gave "thanks to Pierre" after the Conservatives won a   
   majority government.   
      
   "The whole circumstances are very odd, we haven't heard any other   
   witness describe it," Boxall said. "(The Crown case) is going to depend   
   on Mr. Prescott's credibility, which is sadly lacking."   
      
   Hearn asked Michaelson if he considered the toast "damning evidence," to   
   which he replied: "it's evidence."   
      
   Both the Crown and defence said they believe more than one person was   
   involved, based on agreed-upon evidence in the case.   
      
   One of the prepaid credit cards used to order the robocalls was   
   purchased at a Shoppers Drug Mart at the very same time that the   
   RackNine account linked to the case was being accessed on a computer.   
      
   Boxall has alluded to another Conservative campaign worker as a possible   
   key figure in the case.   
      
   Under cross-examination, Prescott spoke about Kenneth Morgan, the   
   campaign manager for the local Conservative candidate Marty Burke.   
   Prescott said he was ordered on election day by Morgan to log on to a   
   RackNine account he did not recognize and "stop the calls.'"   
      
   Morgan moved to Kuwait shortly after the 2011 campaign and, according to   
   court documents, has refused to speak to Elections Canada investigators   
   about the robocall affair.   
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   He has not been charged with any offence.   
      
   During his closing, Michaelson said the evidence in the case "points to   
   more than one person" being involved, including Sona.   
      
   "Sona played an instrumental role and committed one or more acts" in the   
   scheme, he said. There's more than enough evidence showing that Sona   
   aided and abetted someone else, Michaelson argued.   
      
   "The evidence looked at as a whole should leave you with no reasonable   
   doubt," he said. "Mr. Sona had the opportunity, the motive and the means   
   to commit (the crime)."   
      
   Boxall said the testimony from witnesses who claimed they heard Sona   
   confess was not strong enough to warrant a conviction.   
      
   Some of the facts Sona allegedly detailed in his stories didn't match up   
   with evidence in the case, he added, suggesting Sona told tall tales to   
   sound "more important than he is."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)