POT CRUSADER GETS NEW DAY IN COURT

Top Court Upholds Principle of Jury Nullification, Quashes Earlier Conviction

OTTAWA - A medical marijuana crusader from Alberta will get a new
trial on drug charges after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled
unanimously Thursday that the judge in his 2003 trial had reduced the
jury's role to a "ceremonial" one.

In a 7-0 judgment, the top court said Grant Krieger of Calgary was
deprived of his "constitutional right" to a trial by jury when the
judge in the case directed the jury to find the accused guilty of
possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking.

It quashed Krieger's conviction and ordered a new trial by jury.

"The trial judge's direction was not a 'slip of the tongue,' "
Justice Morris Fish wrote on behalf of the court. "His purpose and
words were clear. In effect, the trial judge reduced the jury's role
to a ceremonial one."

Krieger said he was overjoyed by the ruling, and the prospect of a new trial.

Krieger, who uses marijuana to help cope with his multiple sclerosis,
said he is confident a "jury of his peers" will find him not guilty
of the charges.

"I'm walking in the same steps as Henry Morgentaler was walking over
abortion and female issues," he said in an interview from Calgary.
"I'm doing the same thing for the sick, injured and dying on the
cannabis issue."

Krieger, 51, was charged in 1999 after police seized 29 marijuana
plants from his Calgary home.

A jury acquitted him after a 2001 trial, but the verdict was quashed
by the Alberta Court of Appeal.

In 2003 Krieger was tried again. He confessed to providing marijuana
to others in medical need, but defended his actions on grounds he had
no choice other than to break the law to ensure a reliable supply of
pot for patients who have a federal exemption for marijuana use.

Before leaving the courtroom, the judge directed the jurors to
convict, and said they were "bound to abide by that direction." He
later rejected two jurors' requests to be excused on religious
grounds and grounds of conscience. The jury subsequently returned
with a guilty verdict.

This verdict was upheld in the Alberta Court of Appeal. Although it
said trial judge Paul Chrumka made a mistake in ordering the jury to
convict, it said a new trial would result in the same verdict. Chief
Justice Catherine Fraser dissented, which meant the case was
automatically put to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruling confirmed what Fish cited as the
well-established notion that juries have the power to refuse to apply
the law when their consciences permit no other course.

John Hooker, Krieger's lawyer, had argued the Supreme Court had
formally recognized the option of so-called jury nullification in a
1988 ruling that upheld the jury acquittal of abortion doctor Morgentaler.

Hooker said the top court would have delivered a devastating blow to
the role of juries in the Canadian judicial system if it had upheld
the guilty verdict.

Since his arrest, Krieger has become an outspoken activist, and was
recently convicted in Alberta provincial court of two new drug
trafficking charges.