LONDON, Ont. — The man who threw gravel at Justin Trudeau at a protest-interrupted 2021 campaign event should be sent to jail, a prosecutor argued on Monday, claiming the man’s actions were not just an assault on a candidate but an assault on democracy.
The defence lawyer for 26-year-old Shane Marshall, meanwhile, said his client’s impulse and anger management issues got the better of him when he tossed stones at the prime minister during the September 2021 campaign stop in London, Ont.
Marshall pleaded guilty to common assault in March and is set to be sentenced next week after lawyers made their submissions before a provincial court justice on Monday.
Crown attorney Jeremy Carnegie asked for a sentence of 30 days in jail, arguing that with vitriol and hatred in political discourse bringing Canada “closer and closer to violence all the time,” the court needed to impose a sentence strong enough to deter others from taking similar actions.
“This isn’t just an assault on a candidate. It’s an assault on our democracy,” Carnegie said.
“Violence in the political process, specifically violence during election campaigns, must be denounced and it must be deterred.”
Defence lawyer Luke Reidy said Marshall, from nearby St. Thomas, Ont., is remorseful and should be given a one-year suspended sentence with mandatory community service.
He said Marshall went to the Trudeau campaign event with the intention to protest.
“The act of throwing stones was an impulse. It was an impulse that Shane Marshall should have the ability to control, but in that moment, he reacted,” Reidy said.
Marshall briefly addressed the court and apologized.
“It was not my intention to cause a scene or hurt anyone,” he said.
Trudeau’s 2021 federal campaign events as Liberal leader were marred by protestors who railed against COVID-19 vaccine policies and measures the government introduced to stem the spread of the virus.
Trudeau referred to crowds following his campaign as “anti-vaxxer mobs” and spent the last weeks of the race, which coincided with the fourth wave of the pandemic, campaigning on a pledge to mandate shots for federal workers and travellers on planes, trains and cruise ships.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Monday it would not currently be commenting on the case.
The People’s Party of Canada has previously said it removed a man by the same name as Marshall as riding association president after reviewing video clips of the stone throwing. The far-right political party ran on a platform that included drastically reducing the number of refugees and immigrants Canada accepts and repealing vaccine mandates.
Reidy told the court Marshall was “very passionate about his politics,” though he did not clarify what those political views amounted to, saying only that they formed a “minority opinion.” The lawyer then argued that “without people like Shane Marshall, minority opinions would not be heard.”
Carnegie, the Crown attorney, said violence directed toward political candidates could dissuade people from running for office, an essential feature of a strong democracy.
“Violence against political candidates, any political candidates, hurts our democracy as a whole,” he said.
In making arguments Monday, lawyers cited at least three instances of a prime minister or premiers getting pied in the face as precedents. A man who threw a pie at Jean Chretien in 2000 during an event in Charlottetown was sentenced to 30 days in jail, but later had his sentence reduced on appeal, court heard.
The defence argued Monday the Chretien pie-throwing case was more serious because it was planned and intentional, but the Crown disagreed.
“Pies generally don’t injure people,” and are typically for humiliation, Carnegie said. The same does not apply to a handful of stones, he said.
Court heard Marshall has worked on and off as a plumber, but struggled to find a permanent job. His lawyer said he has no criminal record, is currently unemployed and living with his mother.
His lawyer also asked the court to impose a five-year weapons prohibition, rather than the 10-year ban asked for by the Crown. Reidy said Marshall is a hunter and a five-year term would give him “time to change his behaviour and still show that he is redeemable.”
The Crown in arguing for jail time said a conditional sentence, where Marshall serves his time in the community under strict supervision, such as with an ankle monitor, would not be sufficient. Carnegie referred to a report prepared for the judge that he said noted Marshall had claimed he would rather go to jail than wear an ankle monitor.
Marshall is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2023.
