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A medical marijuana activist who was once arrested in Manitoba says he is raring to be tried again now that the Supreme Court has overturned his 2003 conviction for pot trafficking.
"I'm very happy the Supreme Court had the good sense to give me a trial, because I do want a trial by my peers," Grant Krieger said in an interview Thursday.
The top court ruled that the Alberta judge who ordered a jury to convict Krieger went too far and violated his rights.
In a 7-0 judgment Thursday, the court overturned the conviction, sending the case back for a new trial if the Crown chooses to proceed.
Krieger, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has legal permission from the federal government to smoke pot for medical purposes. He doesn't have permission to supply it to others -- but freely admits that he's done so in an effort to ease the pain of serious illness.
"I want another trial here. I want this issue on the table just like (abortion activist Henry) Morgentaler's issue -- this has to come out." "Let the collective conscience speak over this issue and not our laws." Officials with Alberta Justice weren't immediately available to comment on whether a new trial would be ordered.
If it is, it will mark the third time Krieger faces a jury on the same charge of possession of marijuana for purposes of trafficking.
He was busted by Manitoba Mounties in January 2004 when he was found in the possession of $7,500 in cash and marijuana he was delivering to his 28 clients in Selkirk and Winnipeg. Krieger was charged with possession for the purposes of trafficking, and is still awaiting a court date.
Krieger has endured a long legal odyssey since he was charged in 1999 after police seized 29 marijuana plants, the fruit of a grow-op he admitted to maintaining at his Calgary home.
He was acquitted by the first jury to hear the case in 2001, but that verdict was later thrown out by the Alberta Court of Appeal.
At the second trial in 2003, Justice Paul Chrumka of Court of Queen's Bench instructed the jury that they had no choice, based on the evidence in the case and the letter of the law, except to find Krieger guilty.
Two jurors objected and said their consciences wouldn't permit them to convict. They asked to be excused from the case, but the judge refused.
"They had no choice," recalled Krieger. "Two of the jurors asked to be excused because they were crying and they didn't want to convict me -- they said I did nothing wrong." Justice Morris Fish aid Chrumka's actions deprived Krieger of his right to a meaningful jury trial.
"In effect, the trial judge reduced the jury's role to a ceremonial one," wrote Fish. "He ordered the conviction and left to the jury, as a matter of form but not of substance, its delivery in open court."
The judge had the legal discretion to refuse the request by the two jurors to withdraw from deliberations, said Fish. But the way he went about it, and the comments he made, only reinforced the fact that he was ordering them to reach a guilty verdict.
Newshawk: Spliff Twister - <A HREF="420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking">420 Magazine</A>
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Pubdate: Fri, 27 Oct 2006
Author: Canadian Press
Copyright: 2006 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: letters@freepress.mb.ca
Website: The Winnipeg Free Press Online Edition
"I'm very happy the Supreme Court had the good sense to give me a trial, because I do want a trial by my peers," Grant Krieger said in an interview Thursday.
The top court ruled that the Alberta judge who ordered a jury to convict Krieger went too far and violated his rights.
In a 7-0 judgment Thursday, the court overturned the conviction, sending the case back for a new trial if the Crown chooses to proceed.
Krieger, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has legal permission from the federal government to smoke pot for medical purposes. He doesn't have permission to supply it to others -- but freely admits that he's done so in an effort to ease the pain of serious illness.
"I want another trial here. I want this issue on the table just like (abortion activist Henry) Morgentaler's issue -- this has to come out." "Let the collective conscience speak over this issue and not our laws." Officials with Alberta Justice weren't immediately available to comment on whether a new trial would be ordered.
If it is, it will mark the third time Krieger faces a jury on the same charge of possession of marijuana for purposes of trafficking.
He was busted by Manitoba Mounties in January 2004 when he was found in the possession of $7,500 in cash and marijuana he was delivering to his 28 clients in Selkirk and Winnipeg. Krieger was charged with possession for the purposes of trafficking, and is still awaiting a court date.
Krieger has endured a long legal odyssey since he was charged in 1999 after police seized 29 marijuana plants, the fruit of a grow-op he admitted to maintaining at his Calgary home.
He was acquitted by the first jury to hear the case in 2001, but that verdict was later thrown out by the Alberta Court of Appeal.
At the second trial in 2003, Justice Paul Chrumka of Court of Queen's Bench instructed the jury that they had no choice, based on the evidence in the case and the letter of the law, except to find Krieger guilty.
Two jurors objected and said their consciences wouldn't permit them to convict. They asked to be excused from the case, but the judge refused.
"They had no choice," recalled Krieger. "Two of the jurors asked to be excused because they were crying and they didn't want to convict me -- they said I did nothing wrong." Justice Morris Fish aid Chrumka's actions deprived Krieger of his right to a meaningful jury trial.
"In effect, the trial judge reduced the jury's role to a ceremonial one," wrote Fish. "He ordered the conviction and left to the jury, as a matter of form but not of substance, its delivery in open court."
The judge had the legal discretion to refuse the request by the two jurors to withdraw from deliberations, said Fish. But the way he went about it, and the comments he made, only reinforced the fact that he was ordering them to reach a guilty verdict.
Newshawk: Spliff Twister - <A HREF="420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking">420 Magazine</A>
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Pubdate: Fri, 27 Oct 2006
Author: Canadian Press
Copyright: 2006 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: letters@freepress.mb.ca
Website: The Winnipeg Free Press Online Edition
