COKE DEALER FORCED BUYER TO OD

A cocaine dealer who ordered one of his buyers to inject himself with a
lethal dose of the drug dodged an attempted-murder charge.

Instead, Timothy Charles Wilson was jailed for two months for uttering
threats after his lawyer Wade Jenson worked out a plea bargain with the
Crown. Wilson, 39, has been behind bars since August.

He sold $550 worth of cocaine to Todd Whitehurst on the agreement he'd pay
Wilson back by writing bad cheques and selling goods. When Whitehurst
failed to come up with the money, Wilson visited his apartment in November,
1997.

The Crown alleges Wilson was fed up with the runaround he was getting from
Whitehurst and ordered him and his girlfriend to inject themselves with
cocaine. Each syringe contained three quarters to a full gram; an amount
that could kill even heavy users of the drug.

"It will just look like two dead junkies on the bathroom floor," Wilson was
quoted as saying.

Whitehurst, figuring he could get a free high out of the deal, agreed to
shoot up the coke. He believed he could accommodate Wilson's order and get
his fix, said Jenson.

Whitehurst was rushed to Kelowna General Hospital and survived.
Whitehurst's girlfriend either missed her vein and shot the coke into her
flesh, or failed to inject it at all.

But discrepancies in Whitehurst's version of events led the Crown to back
down from two extortion charges and agree to the lesser charge of
threatening. He was to begin a trial in B.C. Supreme Court this week.

"Had he been convicted of extortion, a more serious sentence would have
been handed down," said Jenson.

Judge Brian Weddell also sentenced Wilson to two years' probation.

"It's fortunate he's not facing a murder charge," said Weddell.