POT CASE MAY BE BASIS FOR APPEAL

Medical marijuana activist Grant Krieger doesn't have a TV or an
Internet connection, and he did not follow the recent trial of the
Yorkton father who shot his 16-year-old daughter's boyfriend to death
almost four years ago.

He doesn't know Kim Walker or the facts of the case against him, but
he does remember what it's like to stand accused and hear a judge tell
jurors to reach a guilty verdict, Krieger said in an interview Friday.

"I don't know whether he's guilty or not guilty, because I haven't
heard any of the evidence," the 51-year-old said of Walker from his
home in Alberta. "What I'm saying is, the decision is between those 12
people on the jury."

Krieger scored a victory last fall when the Supreme Court of Canada
quashed his earlier conviction for possession of marijuana for the
purpose of trafficking, on the grounds that a judge had deprived him
of his right to a jury trial by instructing the jury members to retire
to the deliberation room, elect a foreman, "and then return to the
court with a verdict of guilty."

Walker's defence lawyer, Morris Bodnar, cited Krieger's case when he
sought a mistrial late Thursday, midway through jury
deliberations.

Walker admits he fired the five bullets that killed 24-year-old James
Hayward on March 17, 2003, but maintains he did not mean to cause his
death. Prior to the shooting, he made repeated unsuccessful attempts
to get his daughter Jadah to stay away from Hayward, who was a
convicted drug dealer rumoured to be supplying the girl with morphine.

In her instructions to Walker's jury following closing arguments from
the Crown and defence this week, Queen's Bench Justice Jennifer
Pritchard told jurors they had to find him guilty of at least
manslaughter.

According to the Supreme Court's ruling in Krieger's case, that
amounts to usurping the jury's power and thus depriving the accused of
his constitutional right to a jury trial, Bodnar argued.

In an interview prior to Walker's conviction Friday, University of
Saskatchewan law Prof. Tim Quigley said Walker would likely have "a
pretty solid ground of appeal here to get a new trial" if found guilty
of first-or second-degree murder, given Pritchard's directions to the
jury.

The Krieger decision was "a very clear statement by the Supreme Court
of Canada that a jury is always entitled to acquit," Quigley explained.

"They can't be told that; they've got to figure it out for themselves.
So counsel can't stand up and say, 'You can ignore the law and acquit
my client,' but the option of acquitting cannot be taken away by the
trial judge."