HOLY SMOKE BUST

Pot Crusaders Moving Through Court System

A new - and indictable - charge was levied against Holy Smoke Culture
Shop co-owner Alan Middlemiss Monday for trafficking in marijuana.

Middlemiss and fellow Holy Smoke owner Paul DeFelice were in Nelson
court Tuesday as their court case proceeded. It was Middlemiss'
first appearance.

"None of these charges allow a jury trial," said the duo's lawyer
Donald Skogstad. "It has to be indictable because of the quantity,
but it's still exclusive jurisdiction of a provincial court judge."

When asked why a jury trial is not an option for Middlemiss, Skogstad
said it is because the quantity alleged to have been trafficked is not much.

Middlemiss and DeFelice were arrested this summer. DeFelice was
arrested July 15 after which Nelson City Police conducted a search
warrant on Holy Smoke and allegedly seized a pound and a half of
marijuana, documents, and between $8,000-$9,000 cash. Middlemiss
turned himself in August 16 when he heard there was a warrant for his arrest.

DeFelice is charged with two counts of trafficking of marijuana and
two charges of possession, one for marijuana and one for hashish, on
the day of his arrest. The possession charges were added last month.

Skogstad said that at the moment, Middlemiss is charged with two
counts of trafficking, one is for the alleged trafficking of
marijuana and the second is for the alleged trafficking of
psilocybins (mushrooms), dating back to this summer before his arrest.

If convicted, Middlemiss could face three months in jail while
DeFelice would be fined.

Middlemiss was served with the circumstances on the new charge and
will be placed under the same conditions - that he is not to be in
the presence of marijuana - both he and DeFelice currently have.

When asked why the new charge against Middlemiss is indictable and
the other charges against both men are summary convictions and do not
involve jail time, Skogstad explained that Crown Counsel decides if
an offense is indictable or not.

Prosecutor Rob Brown, however, was still in Nelson Court when the
Daily News tried to contact him Tuesday. His secretary said he would
likely not return the phone call.

"Rob has a policy that he doesn't give out any information on any of
his cases to the media," she said.

Skogstad said the prosecutor also has the option of trying both men
together or separately and said there could be as many as four trials
for the Holy Smoke owners.

"We're going to try and determine trial length because it's a matter
of determining trial length before you can ask for trial dates.
There's a very important point of disclosure that we don't yet have
that we need to have. We have to make decisions based on the
information and we have to have all the information to make those
decisions," said Skogstad, adding that it's onerous on the crown and
police to provide the information. He estimates that he will need a
week for the trial and added that there is a video on Paul's case
that will be important.

"There's a video on Paul's case that's going to be very significant,"
said Skogstad. "There's certain events in there that we need to know
about. It's just another remand date. It's a date that we might be
able to talk about the trial length."

The case has been moved to December 5 and Middlemiss is apparently
looking forward to having his day in court.

"We're excited to get the trial. We're definitely going to be
pleading not guilty. There seems to be a lot of holes in the crown's
case already so we're just conferring with our lawyer and getting as
much information as we can."