OTTAWA—The Crown wants an out-of-town judge to preside over the criminal trial of two main “Freedom Convoy” organizers, as one of them argues his charges should be stayed because the disclosure of a huge volume of cellphone records violated his rights to privacy and a fair trail.
The application for a judge from outside the capital — where convoy protesters staged a three-week occupation to denounce COVID-19 health measures last year — is meant to ensure there is no risk of “unconscious” bias in the case, said Dallas Mack, the deputy Crown attorney at the Ottawa courthouse.
