The mother of one of four men convicted of weapons and arson offences from last summer's riot on Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick says none of the men should go to jail because of their actions.
Jan Lambert, whose son Matthew has been released following Saturday's verdict until sentencing, is happy her son was not taken into custody, but says none of the men did anything criminal.
The house was burned to the ground.
(CBC)
"I'm relieved he's not going to jail, but it still makes me angry that the other two boys are, and that they would be convicted of anything because of the way things went down that night," she said.
"As the judge said, it was very chaotic. And when you know the people, you know their hearts, and you know they wouldn't be … they're not violent people."
Matthew Lambert and three other men will have criminal convictions resulting from the July 22 incident, during which a group of islanders descended on a reputed drug house, attacked its inhabitant and set it on fire.
Defence lawyer David Lutz maintained the men were acting in self-defence,
The convictions followed 10 days of testimony and nearly two days of deliberations.
On the arson charges, the 12-member jury acquitted Greg Guthrie, but convicted Michael Small and Lloyd Bainbridge. They have been taken into custody and will be sentenced on Dec. 4. Carter Foster was found guilty of unlawful storage of a firearm. Lambert was found guilty of a weapons charge relating to a flare gun.
Foster and Lambert were allowed to return to Grand Manan until sentencing.
Pre-sentence reports will be prepared to help Justice Hugh McLellan decide how to sentence the other four men.
The defence had argued the men were defending themselves and their community in July when they fired gunshots, beat a man they accused of drug dealing and set his home ablaze.
During deliberations, the jury asked several questions about the issue of self-defence.
They delivered the verdicts to an emotionally charged courtroom, where wives and girlfriends of the accused wept upon hearing the news. At one point, the judge warned people to remain calm.
Firefighters described in court how they arrived to a mob scene at the home of Ronald Ross and said some in the crowd stood in their way by forming a human chain around the burning building.
Prosecutors had told jurors that despite their opinions of the man whose home was destroyed the night of July 21 and the early-morning hours of July 22, islanders from the community of 2,600 had no right to bypass the criminal justice system.
Ross, who now lives in Digby, N.S., had testified he wasn't running a crack cocaine house, as his attackers suggested.
He admitted to occasionally using the drug, but insisted he did not produce or sell the crack to others.
Grand Manan is about 35 kilometres off New Brunswick in the Bay of Fundy.
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