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The defence argued that these witnesses had been influenced by media reports that had already described the same technique used by the suspect with the pseudonym Pierre Poutine.

At no time did the Crown introduce evidence that directly tied Sona to the calls, despite an exhaustive investigation into computer server logs, phone billing records and Internet addresses.

The defence did not call witnesses, and Sona’s lawyer, Norm Boxall, told the court in summation that the case was inherently weak.

“It is not clear to me what exactly the Crown is saying Mr. Sona did,” Boxall said. He also noted that evidence Prescott gave to Elections Canada investigators implicating his former friend changed over time, particularly in a statement Prescott gave after securing an immunity agreement that spared him from prosecution.

Hearn could deliver a guilty verdict against Sona, even if he determines that other actors were involved in the calls.

Throughout the robocalls affair, the Conservatives have denied any role in the calls, which were made using a list of identified non-Conservatives supporters extracted from the party’s voter-contact database, CIMS.

The party would likely welcome a guilty verdict against Sona, who lost his job with Conservative MP Eve Adams in February 2012, when the Citizen and Postmedia News first reported on the Elections Canada investigation.

Were Sona to be acquitted, it is uncertain if the Commissioner of Canada Elections would pursue charges against others or simply abandon the robocalls case altogether.

Whatever the verdict, several key questions about the calls were never answered. The Crown never explained who actually purchased the “burner” phone and registered it in the name Pierre Poutine. How the electronic list of phone numbers used for the calls made their way from the CIMS database into Poutine’s hands was never explained, and it remains unclear whether the female voice on the outgoing call recording was a synthesizer or a human.

– With files from Stephen Maher, Postmedia News