Mary Wagner was found guilty of mischief and breaching probation. Prosecution wants more jail time beyond the four months she has already served.
Judge Mavin Wong convicted pro-life prisoner of conscience Mary Wagner of two counts of breaching a probation order and one of mischief following a one-day trial April 16 at the Ontario Court of Justice in College Park. But Wong postponed Wagner’s sentencing until May 5 after asking prosecutor Craig Power if the Crown was seeking a “further period of custody” on top of the four months Wagner served during the trial. When Power replied yes, Wong requested a pre-sentence report listing Wagner’s previous convictions.
Wagner has been in jail since her December 23, 2014 arrest at the Bloor West Village Women’s Clinic, where, according to evidence heard at the trial, she attempted to hand red roses and cards on fetal development to three women there that morning, and to counsel at least one, albeit unsuccessfully, against imminently aborting her child.
The trial proceeded fitfully with frequent recesses as Power, a young, slightly built man with a neatly trimmed beard, attempted to contact errant witnesses and “wrangle up some evidence,” as he put it to Wong, a remark she later scolded him for when rebuking the Crown for apparent unreadiness: “This is unacceptable.”
“My frustration is equal to or exceeds that of the court,” replied Power, rather tersely.
“The court is not here to assist the Crown,” Wong said. “We need to move this through now.”
Wong recalled that Wagner had appeared before her on March 5, but did not speak or cooperate with the court, so the judge then appointed Justine Fitzgerald as an amicus or “friend of the court” to assist in dealing with this situation.
Fitzgerald told the court April 16 that Wagner was “articulate” and had informed her in a “kind” and “non-contemptuous” way that she was “choosing not to represent herself.”
Wagner did not speak, enter a plea, call witnesses or take any steps in her own defence.
Rather, the slender, dark-haired 41-year-old, dressed in dark green prison garb, sat quietly in the glass-walled prisoner’s dock, although she smiled warmly at her 15 or so supporters, who stood up when she was led, handcuffed, into the courtroom.
Those included Father Piotr Baltarowicz of Poland, who concelebrated Mass at the Vanier Centre for Women on April 15 with three other priests and a bishop, a Mass attended by Wagner and 11 inmates, or “sisters in green” as she allegedly calls them.
Meanwhile, Fitzgerald pointed out the Crown’s disclosures of evidence were incomplete. Constable Tim Deacon’s notes were illegible in places, and she did not have a record of the 911 call the day of the arrest. Power asserted Fitzgerald was being “overly diligent” and that it was possible to “discern” a sense of events from the notes, but Wong ruled for procedural exactitude.
That left the problem, as she said: “How do we start the trial now without legible notes?” Or without a recording of the 911 call, so that Wagner and Fitzgerald could hear it.
By 11:15, however, the Crown had overcome these evidentiary difficulties and assembled five witnesses: Toronto police constables Steve Petrakis, Tim Deacon, and Matthew Mackenzie, Wagner’s probation officer Liana Mischianti, and abortion clinic staff worker Nadine Clark.
Judge Wong entered a plea of not guilty on Wagner’s behalf.
Clark testified that Wagner entered the abortion facility behind a woman who had been “buzzed in,” but only after “I heard a commotion in the waiting room” five minutes later did she look into the waiting room and recognize Wagner.
She testified that of the three women present, one was crying, “tears were coming, her face was red” and her husband was obviously upset. “I took the patients to the back,” leaving Wagner and the irate husband in the waiting room, Clark told Power.
She did not ask the woman why she was crying, Clark said, adding that after leaving the waiting room, she could hear “the husband” speaking to Wagner in a loud, angry voice, but could not hear Wagner’s responses.
Police officers Deacon and Petrakis testified to attending to the scene, asking Wagner to leave, and ultimately arresting her. Power asked Deacon not to testify about what Wagner said, but only relate what happened.
In closing remarks, Power argued that Wagner was guilty of mischief by her “willful action, intentional action, sneaking in behind another patient, confronting another woman with her views” on a day already “difficult” for that woman.
Fitzgerald, however, argued that according to the evidence, there was “reasonable doubt that the interference was more than trivial,” and it was speculation to say the woman was crying because of Wagner’s actions, as “the reason a person would be there is laden with emotion.”
“I don’t know if it’s speculation,” countered Wong. “She’s fine, Ms. Wagner approaches, she’s crying. It’s a reasonable inference to make.”
Wong’s ruling, delivered verbally by the judge after a short recess, found Wagner guilty of mischief. Wagner, “armed with red roses and business cards” had “surreptitiously entered” the abortion clinic which was “conducting legally sanctioned medical procedures” and her “intention was to interfere with its business.” With Wagner’s arrival, the “otherwise peaceful atmosphere was disrupted” and “patients had to be moved to a secure private area” and “the police called.”
Wong also convicted Wagner of breaching her June 12, 2014 probation order on two counts: not keeping the peace, and not remaining 100 metres away from an abortion clinic.
Wong will sentence Wagner May 5 at 10:00, in Room 504 at College Park Court.
Wagner has been arrested seven times in her attempts to save unborn children and women from the violence of abortion, and has spent upwards of three-and-a-half years in jail.
Meanwhile, Linda Gibbons, also currently incarcerated in Vanier, is scheduled for a video appearance at College Park on April 21 for charges following a March 24, 2015 arrest at an east York abortuary.
A longer version of this article originally appeared April 17, 2015 at LifeSiteNews.com and is reprinted with permission.
