Mayor Larry O’Brien was found not guilty of influence peddling charges in an Ottawa courtroom today.
Applause rang out as Justice J. Douglas Cunningham read the verdict to more than 150 people crammed into the largest available courtroom. Many more members of the public and media were in the overflow room, watching from video screens.
The verdict from Cunningham means that O’Brien can continue in his role as mayor of Canada’s capital city. He had taken a leave of absence since May in order to face the charges, which stemmed from a series of meeting he had with fellow mayoral candidate Terry Kilrea during the 2006 civic election.
A guilty verdict would have thrown city politics into chaos, with councillors faced with a decision to either hold an emergency by-election or appoint someone as mayor until the election in November 2010.
“Thank god,” said Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder as she walked out of the courtroom. Harder along with acting Mayor Doug Thompson and Orleans Coun. Bob Monette were in court to hear the verdict.
“I’m glad it’s over,” said Thompson, “I think he’ll be back in office, maybe a little humbler.”
Cumberland Coun. Rob Jellet said he thinks O’Brien will be back on the job at next-door city hall right away.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he walked from here over there this afternoon,” said Jellet.
O’Brien read a prepared statement outside the courthouse, where he spoke of the trial as an “emotional roller coaster.”
“I hope that we can put this ordeal behind us,” he continued.
In his verdict Cunningham said Kilrea’s lack of credibility was a major turning point in the trial. Kilrea swore many different drafts of the affidavit detailing his meetings with O’Brien, where dates and facts often changed from one draft to the next.
Kilrea dropped out of the 2006 race, citing a lack of funds, while O’Brien was the shock winner over Alex Munter and Bob Chiarelli.
After the November election, Kilrea went to the Ottawa Citizen and police with an account of meetings between him and O’Brien where O’Brien appeared to have offered Kilrea an appointment with the National Parole Board in exchange for dropping out of the race.
Because both were right-wing candidates, O’Brien and Kilrea were vying for the support of the federal Conservative party as well as right-leaning voters. According to Kilrea’s account, O’Brien asked him to drop out in order to avoid splitting the right wing vote, and told him that he had the influence on the governing Federal Conservatives to make such an appointment happen.
While Cunningham said he believed O’Brien encouraged Kilrea to both drop out of the race and to seek a federal appointment, he said that he could not believe – beyond a reasonable doubt – that O’Brien had or pretended to have the influence necessary to secure that appointment for Kilrea.