WATCH: Global News’ Laura Stone and Mike Drolet discuss the arguments from the defence and crown over whether Michael Sona should go to jail
GUELPH – A Guelph judge will spend the next month deciding whether or not Michael Sona should go to jail for his role in the 2011 robocalls voter-suppression scheme – and for how long.
Justice Gary Hearn reserved his judgment until Nov. 19 after being presented Friday with diverse submissions from Sona’s defence and the Crown on how to handle the unprecedented case.
Sona, 26, was convicted in August of wilfully preventing or endeavouring to prevent an elector from voting. He faces a $5,000 fine and up to five years in prison.
READ MORE: Will Michael Sona go to jail? Sentencing scheduled Friday in robocalls case
Sona’s lawyer, Norm Boxall, argued his client – who was 22 years old at the time of the offence – is not dangerous and does not need to be separated from society.
Boxall said Sona should be put on probation and given 240 hours of community service. If the judge wants jail time, Boxall suggested a “short, sharp” sentence of 14 to 30 days in jail, served on weekends, or a six- to eight-month conditional sentence on house arrest.
But Crown prosecutor Croft Michaelson asked for 18 to 20 months in jail, saying the case must act as a deterrent as the crime threatens the democratic process in Canada.
“It is obviously a very serious offence,” Michaelson told the courtroom Friday.
“Incarceration is required to adequately express society’s condemnation of the offender’s conduct.”
The Crown acknowledged Sona’s age, that this is his first offence, and the fact that he was in a relatively junior role on Conservative candidate Marty Burke’s campaign when some 6,700 misleading calls were sent out to voters in the early morning of May 2, 2011.
But Michaelson said the crime was a deliberate one and Sona has not accepted any responsibility for what the judge called his “very active” role in the scheme.
“We have a complete lack of contrition. We have no remorse,” he said.
If Hearn chooses to impose a conditional sentence, Michaelson asked for 18 to 20 months on house arrest, including a period where Sona could not work. He also asked for Sona to issue a public apology and to complete 240 hours of community service.
When asked by the judge if he had anything to say, Sona shook his head and stayed silent.
Outside court, Boxall said it would be inappropriate for Sona to comment on the case before the sentencing.
When asked if Sona accepts responsibility, Boxall said: “Mr. Sona accepts that the judge has a job to do and he’ll do it. What Mr. Sona’s personal views are is not for me to get out here and do in the media.”
Earlier Friday, Boxall described his client as a responsible, intelligent and compassionate church-going young man whose “bad idea” to send misleading robocalls inadvertently turned into a criminal act.
“It’s not necessary to separate Mr. Sona from society,” Boxall told an Ontario court Friday.
“He’s not dangerous.”
Boxall cautioned Justice Gary Hearn into reading too much into the “hijinx” that occurred at Conservative candidate Marty Burke’s Guelph campaign office, where calls to mostly Liberal supporters were placed.
“We are not dealing with a large-scale conspiracy to obstruct the democratic process,” Boxall said.
He likened it to more of a prank or election trick “that went horribly bad” rather than an “attack on democracy to form the next government in this country.”
Boxall described an environment in which a lack of supervision and leadership may have created the conditions for a “good person” such as Sona, to commit a crime.
If the judge feels a prison sentence is required for deterrence purposes, “the least restrictive sanction should be imposed,” Boxall said.
READ MORE: Michael Sona’s ‘apparent arrogance’ led to conviction in robocalls trial
Sona is now working as a full-time machinist apprentice, and Boxall said his client has a very supportive family.
Court also heard from two women who read victim impact statements about the calls.
Anne Budra, the returning officer in Guelph, detailed “the horror” that ensued at the polls when voters showed up saying they didn’t know where to go.
“It was a panicked situation and was totally out of control,” Budra said, adding it caused her great stress.
One of the candidates even ended up suing her after the election, she said. “My reaction was of shock and disbelief.”
She said voters had the impression she was involved in the scheme.
“I was referred to as Ms. Poutine,” Budra said, referencing the infamous “Pierre Poutine” used to place the calls on a disposable cell phone.
Voter Sarah Parro described the disillusion she felt when she received a robocall in 2011 telling her the polling station had changed.
Parro said her father stopped her from going to the wrong polling station.
“I feel I have lost my voice in society,” Parro said.
“We are just pawns in a rigged chess game, no different than stolen elections in third world countries.”
In his verdict, Hearn found Sona was “very actively” involved in the scheme to send thousands of misleading robocalls on election day 2011.
Hearn said Sona bragged about the details to many of his Conservative friends, which proved to be his undoing.
The plan involved setting up a false account with automated calling firm RackNine and making calls from a so-called burner phone registered to a “Pierre Poutine” – the namesake of a Guelph eatery.
At Sona’s trial, however, both sides agreed he could not have acted alone.
Sona is the only person ever to have been charged. The former staffer worked as communications director on Burke’s campaign, where the calls were placed.
Another campaign worker, Andrew Prescott, was given immunity to testify against his former friend, while campaign manager Ken Morgan has never cooperated with Elections Canada investigators.
Comments