COUPLE ACCUSED OF RUNNING DRUG GUEST HOUSE EVADES TRIAL

Police witness' vacation stalls charges against alleged West Van 'B & B & B'

A couple accused of running a bed, breakfast and marijuana bud business in
a leafy suburb of West Vancouver had charges against them stayed Thursday
because a key police witness was on vacation.

The trial of 32-year-old Daryl Robert Shelstad and 30-year-old Crystal Ann
Nicholson on charges of possession of marijuana, hashish and an amphetamine
ended a few minutes after it began, without any witnesses called or
evidence presented.

The couple had been living high up in the British Properties, in a rented,
million-dollar Greenwood Road house with a hot tub and city views.

In February 2000, after West Vancouver police seized 143 grams of
marijuana, a chunk of hashish and some MDA or methylendioxyamphetamine,
police alleged the couple was offering more than toast and coffee at a bed
and breakfast called Mary Jane's Hideaway.

Mary Jane is a decades-old euphemism for marijuana.

A now-withdrawn Internet advertisement linked to a marijuana paraphernalia
store in Vancouver described the busines a "B & B & B," or "bed, bud and
breakfast" place.

After repeated court appearances and re-scheduled trial dates, prosecutor
Jay Straith told the judge Thursday he was "forced to enter a stay."
Straith indicated a mistake had been made with the notification system for
police witnesses, though the witness in question - a drug exhibit officer
with the West Vancouver police department - gave notice in May that he
would be on vacation this week.

Outside the court, Straith said a vacationing police officer wouldn't
normally be a problem, because the officer could be called in and paid
overtime. The problem, he said, is the officer was vacationing in Quebec.

Shelstad and Nicholson walked away when a Vancouver Sun reporter asked them
to comment after the charges were dropped.

Shelstad would only say he was "very happy."

"Justice has been served," he said with a smile.