The sentencing hearing for a high-profile COVID-protocol protester who was convicted of assault last year has been postponed.
David Lindsay was set to be sentenced Wednesday for an assault conviction related to an Aug. 19, 2021 incident at a Kelowna Interior Health building but he didn’t show up.
His girlfriend appeared in his stead, explaining that while Lindsay was alert and awake, he was in the hospital “in pain” and with a “hoarse” voice.
Judge Cathaline Heinrichs summarized a note she was handed to those gathered in the courtroom.
On Interior Health stationery, she said Lindsay’s doctor said the prolific protester had a medical condition that required attention for 24 hours if not longer.
At that point, it was decided the matter at hand would be put off further because, as Crown coun. David Grabavac pointed out, that it’s only fair to allow Lindsay to be allowed to fully participate in the hearing, and it would be “one less ground for appeal” if they waited.
Instead, Heinrichs scheduled a Friday, July 12 check-in at the courthouse, via email if need be, to set the next best date for sentencing.
Grabavac aims to have the sentencing process complete by the end of July because Lindsay has already filed an appeal and the first court date for the appeal of the conviction he’s yet to be sentenced for is July 22.
It was a slightly convoluted end to what should have been a straightforward process, but that’s in line with the trial that’s lurched ahead in fits and starts and stretched well beyond the three days it was scheduled to be held in March 2023.
Lindsay was convicted last December of two counts of assault, in addition to one count of contempt of court.
he got into a conflict with Gregory Smith, the manager of protection services at Interior Health, on Aug. 19, 2021.
When Smith testified last year, he indicated he told Lindsay not to enter the Interior Health building but that his order was ignored.
“When Mr. Lindsay started to approach the doorway, what, if anything, did you do with your body to get ready for it?” Grabavac asked Smith in March as the remarkably slow trial continued.
“I placed my feet and my body in a supportive position anticipating his trying to push past,” Smith said.
Lindsay, he said, was standing in a similar position with his arms at his sides, something that’s reinforced in video footage.
Police and about half a dozen protesters are also present when Lindsay walks forward, seemingly making contact with Smith. Police are then called in for what Smith described to them as “assault.”