CHURCH OF THE UNIVERSE FOUNDER RELEASED PENDING APPEAL

Church of the Universe founder Michael Baldasaro has been sprung from
prison pending an appeal of his pot-trafficking conviction. But the
Ontario Court of Appeal forbade the hemp-hatted clergyman from
returning to his church's Barton Street East headquarters or
communicating with its co-founder Walter Tucker.

Baldasaro was released from Millhaven Penitentiary on Friday, his
59th birthday, after Justice Susan Lang of the appeal court agreed to
a $1,000 surety of bail from a nonchurch member.

"I've got complete strangers coming up to me on the street and
offering their condolences," the freed man said yesterday. "They're
saying they can't stand what's going on."

A Hamilton judge sentenced Baldasaro on April 25 to two years in
prison after he was found guilty the previous November on two counts
of trafficking involving a total $30 worth of marijuana.

Tucker, 75, who defended himself at trial and who had no recent
convictions on his record, was found guilty of three counts of
trafficking involving $40 worth of pot. He is currently serving a
12-month jail sentence.

A jury found the pair had trafficked small amounts of marijuana,
which church members use as sacrament, to a female undercover police
officer. The officer took out a membership and visited the church on
five occasions between May 2003 and February 2004

Baldasaro said he is worried about his older friend, Tucker, who has
complained to another church member about inmate violence and the
"filthy conditions" he is subjected to at the Penetanguishene super
jail, near Midland.

Defence lawyer Peter Boushy, who represented Baldasaro at trial and
in the court of appeal, said he wants to assist Tucker with his
application for bail pending an appeal of his own convictions and sentence.

He said Tucker would need to show his grounds for appeal were not
frivolous, he would appear for court when required and it would not
be against the public interest to release him pending appeal, which
could take a year or more before being heard by the province's top court.

At their sentencing last month, Superior Court Justice John Cavarzan
also issued an order for seizure of the church's headquarters, which
comprise a storefront at street level and four upper apartments.

Boushy said the forfeiture order was automatically stayed under the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act once the notice of appeal was
filed with the court.