JUDGE GRANTS MOTION TO ADJOURN TRIAL IN 2003 MARIJUANA GROW-OP CASE

A Fenelon Falls man originally charged in a case that goes back almost
five years will not stand trial until September.

Nick Churchill, 33 is one of six men who were originally charged in
connection with the attempted rip-off of a marijuana grow operation
in 2003 near Norland while dressed as police officers. He is facing
several weapons charges, a drug charge and a charge of impersonating a
police officer.

He is the only one of the six accused who opted to have his case go to
trial.

Gordon Churchill, 53 of Port Perry, Jody Churchill, 30, of Port Perry,
Phillip Weddel, 34 of Uxbridge, Garfield Lefort, 32 of Port Perry and
Shane Prince, 35 of Oshawa pleaded guilty last year.

Jody Churchill, Mr. Weddel and Mr. Lefort were sentenced to jail terms
of 90 days last July. In December, Gordon Churchill received 30 months
in prison.

Mr. Prince was scheduled to appear in court the same day but failed to
appear and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Testimony during those court hearings revealed that in September, 2003
they went to a marijuana grow operation near Head Lake to "rip off" as
many of the 18,000 plants as they could, while dressed as police
officers to scare away anyone else at the property.

In court in Lindsay on Monday, Mr. Churchill's lawyer David Steinberg
asked for an adjournment to the trial, which was scheduled to begin
this month.

Mr. Churchill is represented by the Toronto law firm of Derstine
Penman and has asked that one of the partners, either Dirk Derstine or
Jennifer Penman represent him.

Mr. Steinberg, is also with the firm, and he told Justice Barry
MacDougall that the complexity of the case, the seriousness of the
charges and the fact that the other men convicted in connection to the
case were sent to jail makes the request for an experienced trial
lawyer a reasonable one.

He laid the blame for almost five years of delays squarely on the law
firm's shoulders.

"The fault lies with the firm and not Mr. Churchill," he
said.

Mr. Steinberg said scheduling conflicts, computer errors and heavy
trial workloads for both Mr. Derstine and Ms Penman were "the reason
this case has gone off the rails." In asking for the trial to be
rescheduled until the Court's fall sittings, he said, "Mr. Derstine
has undertaken to make himself available."

Crown prosecutor Rick Bagg argued that the long history of the case
and the length of time that has elapsed are important reasons for the
trial to proceed as scheduled, suggesting Derstine Penman could
appoint more experienced counsel if he thought it necessary. While he
didn't dispute the seriousness of the charges, Mr. Bagg challenged Mr.
Steinberg's claim that the case is complex.

"In my view, this is not a particularly complex, trial," he said.
"There are no civil witnesses; there are eight to nine Crown witnesses
and they are all police officers." He added there are also no
violations of the Charter of Rights.

After considering the arguments for both sides, Justice MacDougall
ruled in favour of Mr. Churchill, setting a trial date for Sept. 22.
Mr. Bagg immediately asked the Court that the trial be the first order
of business for that day.

The trial is expected to last five days.