CASE 'DRAGGING ON,' POT ACTIVIST SAYS

Fifteen months after he was arrested for exporting marijuana to sick
clients, and four months after pleading guilty, a pot activist's
roller-coaster ride through the legal system entered a new phase
yesterday when the matter was slated to resume sometime next year.

"It's dragging on," 46-year-old Marco Renda said outside court. "It's
frustrating. I don't know where they intend on going with it."

Renda of the Dundalk area northeast of Mount Forest pleaded guilty in
February to exporting marijuana and possession of hashish oil.

The man, who is allowed by Health Canada to grow and use marijuana to
combat hepatitis C, has admitted mailing 43 packages of the drug to
intended recipients in the U.S. and United Kingdom in March 2005.

However, the case came off the rails in May when Justice Gary Hearn,
who had heard the guilty pleas, realized he knows someone who
provided Renda with a letter of support.

Given that conflict, Hearn struck the pleas and excused himself from the case.

Renda was back in court yesterday where his lawyer, Stacey Nichols,
hoped to have a pretrial meeting with federal prosecutor David Doney
and a different judge to get a sense of what kind of penalty the
judge would consider.

Justice Donald MacMillan said he was willing to meet privately with
the lawyers in his chambers. However the judge said he would do so to
help resolve outstanding factual issues about the case but was not
willing to discuss possible sentences.

Nichols told the judge she had anticipated "a more comprehensive
pretrial," including a discussion about penalty.

The case was adjourned to another courtroom so a pretrial date could
be set before yet another judge. However Justice Norman Douglas, who
was sitting in that court, refused to schedule a pretrial solely to
discuss sentencing.

"If the matter is resolved and it's only an issue of sentence, then
surely that can be dealt with in open court," Douglas said. "I don't
think it's in the public's interest to be hashing out sentences in
(the judge's) chambers."

Nichols explained she was appearing on behalf of Renda's usual
lawyer, Leora Shemesh of Toronto, who is on maternity leave until next May.

Nichols said her instructions were to have a pretrial and gauge the
judge's views on sentencing. Failing this, Nichols said, she would be
looking for a preliminary hearing date.

Preliminary hearings are held to determine whether the Crown has
sufficient evidence to force someone to trial in Superior Court,
where the accused has the option of having the case heard by judge
alone or with a jury.

Renda's preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 4-6, 2007, meaning
a trial would likely not be heard until late next year or early 2008.

While the matter is now scheduled for trial, Renda remained defiant
outside court.

"It's just sick people helping sick people," he said. "The real crime
is bringing me to court for trying to help people out of compassion."