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After police found an ISIS flag in the car used to strike Chernyk, then-Edmonton city police chief Rod Knecht said they were investigating the incidents as “acts of terrorism.” The detail made international news. However, the Crown never brought any terrorism-related charges, and the word “terrorism” was never uttered in front of the jury.

The Crown argued Sharif had intended to cause as much “chaos, destruction and indiscriminate death as possible” that night, without elaborating on motive. An amicus lawyer presenting another theory of the case, Greg Lazin, suggested Sharif might have simply been trying to flee police in the U-Haul.

Chief Crown prosecutor Shelley Bykewich gave a prepared statement outside court, thanking city police and wishing the victims well. She did not take questions, or elaborate on why the Crown chose not to call certain evidence.

Sharif represented himself after firing his lawyer earlier this year. He declined to cross-examine any of the 41 witnesses called by the Crown.

Lazin, a lawyer for 37 years, said he’s never seen a case where an accused refused to cooperate to the extent Sharif did. He has never spoken to Sharif, despite Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Paul Belzil repeated recommendations Sharif do so.

“How do I explain it? I don’t. I can’t,” Lazin said.

A woman who was in a relationship with Sharif until the months before the incidents told Postmedia he has cut off contact. She regularly tries to visit him in the Edmonton Remand Centre, but he refuses to speak to her.