JUDGE KNEW POT SMOKER'S REFERENCE

He Excuses Himself From Sentencing in Medical Marijuana Exporting
Case

A Guelph judge's relationship with a medical marijuana user derailed
the sentencing yesterday of a pot crusader who has admitted mailing
the drug to users in the United States and Britain.

Justice Gary Hearn said while reviewing letters of support last
weekend filed by Marco Renda's lawyer, the judge realized one of the
letters was from "an acquaintance" of Hearn's.

"I feel it's not appropriate to proceed with sentencing in view of
that," the judge said.

Hearn stressed he already knew the letter writer, who was not
identified in court, uses marijuana to combat a medical condition. He
said the impact of seeing the person's name on the letter was "zero"
and he was not concerned it would taint his ability to deliver a just
sentence.

"My concern is only for appearances," the judge said, adding he is
confident federal prosecutor David Doney and defence counsel Leora
Shemesh were concerned about possible bias.

When court began yesterday morning, Hearn called the two lawyers into
his office and explained the conflict. He later explained in open
court why he could not continue to hear Renda's case.

Doney confirmed in court his "sole concern was with the appearance of
the matter."

Shemesh said she had no problem with Hearn continuing with the case,
but understood why the judge felt he must remove himself.

Renda, 46, of the Dundalk area northeast of Mount Forest, pleaded
guilty in February to exporting marijuana and possession of hashish
oil.

He returns to court May 19 for a pretrial hearing before a different
judge.

Even though the case is back at square one it is possible another
guilty plea could be entered following the pretrial.

Renda has been authorized by Health Canada to possess and grow
marijuana, which he uses to alleviate the symptoms of hepatitis C.

Court earlier heard Renda operates a website -- treatingyourself.com
- -- through which he offered marijuana seeds for sale to other medical
users.

On March 18, 2005, he went to the postal outlet inside the Shoppers
Drug Mart in Fergus and dropped off 24 manila envelopes destined for
various addresses in the U.S., court heard. Canadian Border Security
officers intercepted two of the packages and opened them because they
believed a crime was being committed.

The two envelopes were each found to contain marijuana.

On March 31, border officers opened the remaining envelopes and found
them to contain a total of 79 grams of bud marijuana -- valued at
about $1,580 -- and dozens of seeds, court heard.

In the interim, Renda had gone to the same postal outlet March 23 and
mailed out two packages to American addresses.

These were also seized and found to contain 80 grams of bud marijuana
and four grams of powdered marijuana with a total estimated value of
$1,600, court heard.

On March 30, Renda mailed 17 packages to users in the U.S. and United
Kingdom. These were later found to contain 632 grams of bud marijuana
and one vial of hashish oil with an alleged value of more than
$12,000, court heard.

Police later raided Renda's rural home, seizing eight vials of hashish
oil from the living room.

Shemesh earlier told court her client disputes the values alleged by
the prosecutor, and would provide evidence Renda offered controlled
substances through his website at a greatly reduced rate.

Outside court yesterday, Renda expressed disappointment with the
latest setback in his case.

But he said Hearn's acknowledgment he knows someone who uses marijuana
for medical purposes "shows judges realize this is legit."

Renda said following his guilty plea in February that Health Canada
revoked the growing portion of his medical-use permit and said he
would not be able to reapply for 10 years.

"They've given me a 10-year sentence," he said.

"That's way more than any judge would give me."

Renda, who also publishes Treating Yourself magazine, said he believes
he was singled out because he is a vocal medical marijuana activist.

Before court yesterday, Renda and several of his supporters stood
outside the Wyndham Street courthouse, openly smoking marijuana.

Constable Ben Bair of the Guelph Police drug unit, who was at court on
another matter, ensured each of the tokers had their Health Canada
exemption cards.