John Nuttall and Amanda Korody are shown in a still image taken from RCMP undercover video.The Canadian Press
A British Columbia couple accused of plotting to blow up the provincial legislature on Canada Day two years ago have been found not guilty on one of four terrorism-related charges even before their trial concludes.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce told jurors that due to legal reasons, they will not need to make a decision on the third count of John Nuttall and Amanda Korody's indictment: knowingly facilitating a terrorist activity.
"You will not be required to come to a decision about the guilt or innocence of the accused on this count in the indictment," Bruce said Thursday.
"You must accept as matter of law that the accused cannot be convicted of this charge and you must not speculate as to why this has occurred."
Nuttall and Korody pleaded not guilty to a total of four charges. The remaining three charges are: conspiring to commit murder; conspiring to place explosives on behalf of a terrorist group; and possessing explosives on behalf of a terrorist group.
They are accused of planting three homemade pressure-cooker bombs on the grounds of the legislature on July 1, 2013.
After the judge's ruling, defence lawyer Marilyn Sandford opened her case by presenting several audio and video clips not included during weeks of evidence displayed by the Crown.
The jury spent several weeks watching a series of videos captured by undercover RCMP officers involved in a police sting that ultimately led to the charges.
In one excerpt that ran just over an hour, Nuttall and Korody are seen discussing their plans with one of the undercover officers. The video was recorded on June 17, 2013, in a hotel room in Kelowna, B.C.
In the video, the officer asks the pair whether they have a "real plan."
"Something realistic that you're going to do? Or not?" says the Mountie, who can't be identified due to a publication ban.
Nuttall replies that the plan is what he and Korody have already told the officer: firing rockets at a military base in Esquimalt, B.C., from a school field in adjacent Victoria.
"I just think that I'm not going to even worry about that because that would take forever," the officer replies.
Korody says they realize it will take a lot of preparation work, including joining a rocket-building club and obtaining explosives. She says they have thought about dropping pressure-cooker bombs around Victoria as practice to gauge the reaction time by police.
The officer responds to the latter idea, saying: "That's doable. It'll send a great message."
Nuttall adds that he's "never, ever strayed from my rocket idea." He suggests that detonating the pressure-cooker bombs would not be an operational mission, but they could be test blasted in a remote rock quarry.
When the officer says using rockets is a "long-term thing," they agreed.
He suggests they could add C4 explosives to the pressure cookers in the meantime.
"If there's a way to do that and still have the world know why we did it," Nuttall responds. "Then we'll do that instead."
Neither Nuttall nor Korody are expected to testify.