Prosecutor Judy Kliewer told Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger the sentence must send a message to the public and Canada’s partners that revealing classified material has consequences.

In November, jurors declared Ortis guilty of three counts of violating the Security of Information Act and one count of attempting to do so.

Each of these counts is punishable by a maximum of 14 years in prison.

Kliewer said Thursday the Crown is seeking maximum, consecutive sentences on the first two counts of breaching the secrets law, amounting 28 years in prison. The Crown wants sentences that would be served concurrently for the remaining two secrets law offences.

The jury also found Ortis guilty of breach of trust and fraudulent use of a computer system. The Crown is requesting concurrent sentences for these offences as well.

Because the Crown seeks an overall sentence for multiple offences, the "principle of totality" would require the judge to ensure the overall punishment is not excessive.

The Crown says a sentence for Ortis in the range of 22 to 25 years would be appropriate, when this principle is considered.

Ortis, 51, led the RCMP’s Operations Research group, which assembled and developed classified information on cybercriminals, terror cells and transnational criminal networks.

He pleaded not guilty in court to all charges, including breaking the secrets law by revealing classified information to three individuals of interest to police in 2015 and trying to do so in a fourth instance.

Ortis testified he did not betray the RCMP. Rather, he offered secret material to targets in a bid to get them to use an online encryption service set up by an allied intelligence agency to spy on adversaries.

The Crown argued Ortis had no authority to disclose classified material and that he was not doing so as part of a legitimate undercover operation.

Ortis’s position entrusted him with the keys to the most sensitive information that the RCMP had access to at the time, Kliewer told the court Thursday.

"His conduct betrayed the RCMP," she said. "It jeopardized the safety of Canadians."

Kliewer said Ortis deserves a sentence that will show the public and Canada’s international partners that the system intended to protect information "has teeth."

The court is expected to hear sharply differing arguments from the defence.

In November, Mark Ertel, a lawyer for Ortis, said the defence would contend their client had already served enough time behind bars as the proceedings played out.

Ortis was released briefly on bail following his arrest in late 2019, only to be returned to an Ottawa jail for more than three years. He was again granted bail in December 2022 as he awaited a trial that took place last fall.

Applying pre−sentence credit formulae, the Crown says Ortis should be credited with five years and four months.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 11, 2024.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press