Pat King faces new sentencing after Ontario appeals court overturns acquittal on intimidation

Pat King, one of the most visible leaders of the 2022 trucker convoy in Ottawa, will return to court for a new sentencing hearing after the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned his acquittal on one charge and found him guilty of intimidation.

King was convicted in February 2025 of five charges including mischief, counselling mischief, and disobeying a court order. He was handed a conditional sentence of three months under house arrest and a year of probation. He had been acquitted on charges of personally obstructing police and several counts of intimidation.

On July 17, a three-judge panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the trial judge, Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland, made errors of law in acquitting King on one count of intimidation related to blocking or obstructing a highway. The panel sided with Crown prosecutors, who had appealed the acquittal. Hackland had ruled that intimidation could not be committed by blocking a highway during a political protest without threats or acts of violence.

The appeal panel disagreed. "The trial judge erred in requiring proof of an act of violence or threat, and an intention to intimidate," the panel wrote. "These are not elements that have to be proved to support a conviction." The panel found that evidence of intimidation "was readily established beyond a reasonable doubt on the factual findings made by the trial judge."

No date has yet been set for the new sentencing hearing. King was represented at the appeal by defence lawyer Brian Doody.