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The Ontario Court of Appeal argued that Pat King’s original sentence was too ‘lenient’ and ordered the protest leader to appear for a new sentencing.
(LifeSiteNews) — A Canadian appeals court overturned an earlier acquittal of intimidation against prominent Freedom Convoy protester and leader Pat King, saying that his earlier sentence was a “lenient penalty” and has thus ordered him to appear for new sentencing.
In a July 17 ruling, the Ontario Court of Appeal convicted King after prosecutors appealed one of his acquittals. They argued that King’s sentence given in early 2025 wasn’t severe enough.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, in February of 2025, King was handed a three-month conditional sentence for his role in the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest against COVID mandates of all forms. He was found guilty of a total of five offences in 2024, which included mischief, counselling mischief, as well as breaching a court order.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland had ruled that King must serve three additional months of house arrest and dedicate 100 hours to community service for his role in the Freedom Convoy. His original sentence would have been 12 months, but the court gave him credit for time served in jail before his trial.
King had used social media to organize protests of truckers in Ottawa in early 2022, in protest of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s COVID dictates.
While he was acquitted of three intimidation charges, the government Crown lawyers appealed one of the acquittals, which found King innocent of intimidation after he had obstructed a highway. The appeals court agreed with the Crown’s ask.
“The freedom to protest does not include the right to engage in illegal conduct, and this protest evolved into what can fairly be described as an illegal occupation of a significant tract of downtown Ottawa,” wrote the three-judge panel.
“Put simply, criminal conduct is not less criminal because it occurs during a lawful protest.”
The appeals court added that his original 2024 sentence was a “lenient penalty” and a stronger penalty was needed to send a message.
In 2022, King was granted bail after spending five months in jail for his involvement with the protests. He had to pay a $25,000 fine and was banned from speaking to other Freedom Convoy members and was placed under curfew.