BOWDEN — Bowden-area resident Ty Northcott and his company Northcott Rodeo Inc. were slated to be sentenced Aug. 31 being found guilty earlier of violating Alberta Health Services (AHS) COVID restrictions.
But that didn’t happen.
That’s because on Aug. 31, the Crown entered a stay of proceedings on the charges, in the wake of a court decision earlier this summer. That stay was accepted by the court.
Under a stay of proceedings, the court case is paused. The Crown then has up to a year to restart those proceedings or else it’s deemed to have never occurred at all.
The court decision the Northcott case hinged on, Ingram vs. Alberta, found that some COVID restrictions were invalid because in essence, they were made by the provincial cabinet instead of then-Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw, as required in the Public Health Act.
On July 24, in court in Red Deer, Northcott and his company were found guilty by Justice Jim Hunter of violating AHS COVID restrictions by holding the No More Lockdowns rodeo on property south of Bowden May 1-2, 2021.
The court heard that as many as 1,300 people attended that event. At that time, COVID restrictions did not allow gatherings of more than 10 people.
Sentencing was postponed to Aug. 31 to await the verdict in the Ingram vs. Alberta case.
