JUDGE REJECTS STORY, ACCEPTS POT CASE PLEA

She rejected Harry Emdin's defence of duress, but a judge acquitted
the Sault Ste. Marie man of two serious drug charges.

Superior Court Justice Gladys Pardu found him not guilty last week of
producing marijuana and possession of the drug for the purpose of
trafficking.

However, Pardu convicted him of simple possession for having more than
70 marijuana plants in his McNabb Street apartment.

She suspended sentence Friday and placed Emdin on probation for six
months.

During the trial, the court heard that drug unit officers located the
small plants in a closet when they raided the man's apartment.

They were in plastic cups in two boxes in the pantry-type closet when
police executed a search warrant on March 16, 2005, Const. Richard
Crema said.

Crema, a city police officer and a member of the joint forces drug
unit, testified he had received a tip from a confidential informant
that grass was being grown in the apartment.

He described the plants as clones from a mother plant.

When Emdin took the stand in his own defence, he testified that he was
under duress. Another man, a known debt collector, had threatened him
and forced him to store the plants for a couple of weeks, he said.

The judge rejected this defence, suggesting there were reasonable
options of escape. But Pardu did accept there was nothing commercial
involved - no scales, no baggies, no debt list.

As well, she accepted that the accused hadn't done anything in terms
of production and convicted him of the lesser charge.