Mirror:

http://www.openfile.ca/toronto/story/what-we-couldnt-say-about-byron-sonne-trial-part-i

Fulltext in case this goes down:

REPORTED ON
May 23, 2012

In between his arrest in June, 2010 and being cleared of all charges in May, 2012, G20 Hacktivist Byron Sonne had three bail hearings and a pre-trial.

Until last week, when he was found not guilty of possessing explosives, everything that happened in those proceedings was covered by a publication ban. Now, it can be freely reported.

These are some notes from the pre-trial, which took place in January and February of 2011. Dates of the testimony are in bold.

JANUARY 26, 2011

Byron Sonne faced the following charges:

• Four counts of intimidating justice system officials
  
  • Two counts of mischief
    
  • Two counts of attempt/accessory to mischief
    
  • Two counts of making or possessing explosive materials
    
  • Two counts of possession of a dangerous weapon
    

Witness: Police Constable Michael Wong, 52 Division Community Response
Wong was one of three officers who spoke with Sonne on June 15, 2010. A security guard had called police to report that the then-37-year-old had been filming the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Wong and two other officers followed him up Bay to Temperance Street, where they spoke. Sonne refused to provide his ID unless he was being arrested or detained. He produced a slip of paper detailing a criminal code statute on terrorism. Wong and two other officers told Sonne he would be charged with jaywalking, and filled out a contact card with Sonne’s information.

During the pre-trial Joe DiLuca, one of Sonne’s lawyers, asked Wong why the call to speak with Sonne had been noted as a “hotshot,” or high-priority call. Wong wasn’t sure. He also had Wong admit that none of the officers saw Sonne jaywalking, and the tactic was a ruse to get his information. “It was made up?” asked DiLuca.

“Yes,” said Wong.

Wong read out part of his notes from the occasion. “Very nice man, great conversation. Very approachable,” he read.

JANUARY 26 & 27, 2011

Witness: Officer Irvin Albrecht, forensic identification officer
Albrecht presented videos and photos from the search of Sonne’s then-home at 58 Elderwood Drive. He noted, among other things, “computer hacker convention passes” on lanyards. He also noted a “suspected homemade detonator,” a device that figured highly in Sonne’s two denials of bail.

“How was that identified as such?” asked Peter Copeland, another of Sonne’s lawyers.

Albrecht said that he identified the “detonator” during his initial walk through the scene with a Sergeant Gibson. He also “came across similar looking items” in his later reading.

Later, Gavin Edison of the Centre for Forensic Sciences identified the “suspected homemade detonator” as a thermocouple, otherwise known as a fancy thermometer.

Witnesses: Officers Philip Coffin and Euane Simon, the other two officers who questioned Sonne on June 15, 2010 on Temperance Street
Simon activated the video camera on his police car in order to capture Sonne’s image, since Sonne was refusing to present his ID. “If he didn’t do anything wrong, why wouldn’t he give me his name?,” said Simon. “An ordinary person would not be that defensive.”

JANUARY 28, 2011

Witness: Officer Ravi Manoharan, 13 Division
Manoharan was a member of Project Onus, a G20 intelligence team, and one of nine officers on the surveillance team that followed Sonne in the days before his arrest. Manoharan was told that Sonne refused to identify himself, and had been carrying a piece of paper with a Criminal Code statute on terrorism. The following dates and times are some of the surveillance observations Manoharan shared in court.

• June 16, 2010

17:59 Sonne in hammock at Elderwood Drive.

• June 17, 2010

12:39 Sonne visits a commercial building at 124 Eglinton Ave. W.

• June 18, 2010

14:00 Sonne drives his Rav4 to Tucker’s Pottery Supplies in Richmond Hill and left carrying a plastic bag. Goes to Plastic World on 1140 Sheppard West.
14:50 Back to Elderwood Drive.
16:30 Surveillance discontinued.

Sonne’s lawyer Kevin Tilley asked Manohan if any officers went into 124 Eglinton Ave. W., Tucker’s Pottery or Plastic World to see what could be purchased there. Manohan answered no, that Sonne could get “spooked.” Tilley asked if officers went in after Sonne drove off. The answer was no.

• June 20, 2010

10:40 Sonne seen taking photos of the CN Tower while standing on the median at Rees Street and Lake Shore Boulevard.
13:16 Back at Elderwood Drive.
17:25 Surveillance discontinued.

• June 21, 2010 (the day before Sonne’s arrest)

11:55 Sonne goes to Home Depot at 325 Caledonia. Buys metal grass edger and charcoal briquettes. Goes to another Home Depot. Buys tubing stake, inline stake and sprinkler riser.
13:37 Back to Elderwood Drive.
14:30 Works in the yard with someone else.
21:29 Surveillance discontinued.

Tilley has Manohan confirm that none of the officer’s notes refer to projectiles being launched, or the sound of explosions. “My belief is he’s very intelligent and can construct things very well...” Manohan said to Tilley. “Based on other people I heard he can construct things.”

Witness: Corporal Richard Plume, RCMP
Searched Sonne’s parents cottage in Midland. He turned the compressed air “potato cannons” that earned Sonne a dangerous weapons charge over to the Guns and Gangs task force. Plume and others shot wadded up paper towels out of the cannons in the Guns and Gangs parking lot.

Tomorrow: more notes from the pre-trial, including Sonne's alleged plans to forge a G20 security pass.