LOCAL JUDGE APPROVES FEDS' PLACE IN POT KING EXTRADITION

WINLAW VS OTTAWA: Paddy Roberts Promises Appeal Of His Case Aimed At
Keeping Justice Department Out Of His Private Charge Against Pot Seed
Seller Mark Emery

A Winlaw man is vowing to continue his fight against Ottawa in a bid
that could make or break the Bush administration's plans to extradite
B.C. pot seed king Marc Emery to face charges in the U.S.

Paddy Roberts says he and Nelson lawyer Don Skogstad will be appealing
a B.C. Supreme Court judge's decision to dismiss a motion that would
have barred the federal attorney general from taking control of a
conspiracy case Roberts has launched against Emery and two co-accused.
The trio are facing extradition to the States on charges of
conspiracy to launder money and distribute marijuana and marijuana
seeds. Conviction on the charges would carry a sentence of at least
12 years.

Roberts called Justice Robert Crawford's ruling nonsense. The
decision was made two weeks ago in Nelson.

"The United States government got the decision they wanted," Roberts
told the NDN. "There was nothing in statutory law that supported
Justice Crawford's position. The Criminal Code of Canada does not
allow the Attorney General of Canada to intervene in these
proceedings."

Roberts and Skogstad are trying to keep the feds out of the case
because of their expectation that Ottawa will try and stay the pair's
proceedings against Emery, clearing the way for his
extradition.

International law states that a person can't be tried in one country
if he or she is facing identical charges in another. The charges
Roberts has brought before Emery and co-accused Michelle Rainey and
Greg Williams are essentially the same as those the U.S. have pressed.

The chairman of the nationalist Bloc British Columbia party and a
well-known watchdog of the RCMP and judicial system, Roberts admits
that the ruling would have been appealed by either he or federal
prosecutors, depending the Crawford's decision. His appeal will be
filed with the B.C. Court of Appeal.

In all likelihood, the final ruling on Roberts' fight to keep Ottawa
out of the Emery case will be settled in the Supreme Court of Canada,
a process that will take at least a couple of years, Roberts estimates.

"And nobody's going anywhere until this is settled."

According to the Globe and Mail, the federal Department of Justice
tried to dismiss the charge earlier this year, but Roberts filed a
legal motion that argued a Criminal Code offence, such as conspiracy
to violate the laws of another country, may only be prosecuted by
provincial Crowns. The province has said it has no stand on the case.

In an oral ruling released on the eve of the long weekend the Globe
noted, Crawford sided with the arguments put forward by the federal
government. The judge found that since the alleged conspiracy is
drug-related, the prosecution is within the jurisdiction of the
federal Justice Department.

"It seems quite clear that it gives the United States government,
through the agency of the federal Minister of Justice, approval to
interfere in the administration of justice in B.C.," Roberts told the
Globe.

"Normally our courts are not supposed to render judgements based on
political considerations," Roberts added. It wouldn't have taken the
judge more than half an hour to write a decision granting the
prohibition, and that decision would have been unappealable. But that
didn't happen."

The federal Justice Department in Vancouver has refused comment on the
case.

- -with files from the Globe and Mail.