SUPREME COURT WON'T HEAR POT PRIESTS' APPEAL

Hamilton's high priests of pot have lost their bid to have their
marijuana trafficking convictions heard before the Supreme Court of Canada.

The court dismissed an application for leave to appeal the
convictions, from 2007, filed last fall by Church of the Universe
founders Walter Tucker, 77, and Michael Baldasaro, 61. The latter is
one of Hamilton's two registered mayoral candidates so far.

That means the court is telling the pair it will not hear an appeal
of an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling on their convictions last year.
The Supreme Court, which by convention never explains its decisions,
dismissed the application without costs last week.

Tucker and Baldasaro, who use marijuana as a sacrament in their
church, were convicted in 2007 after selling small quantities of pot
to an undercover police officer posing as a new church member.
Baldasaro was sentenced to two years in prison and Tucker was
sentenced to 12 months.

The pair also had their church headquarters on Barton Street East
forfeited to the Crown as "offence-related property." The Ontario
Court of Appeal upheld the convictions last September, but
drastically reduced the sentences and put in place a partial
forfeiture order for the building owner.

Tucker completed his shortened three-month sentence last October at
the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre while Baldasaro finished his
five-month sentence at a jail in Penetanguishene in December.

Both men, who have previous convictions, called the Supreme Court's
decision unfair, and said they do not plan to alter their religious
beliefs. Baldasaro said he believed the court did not take them seriously.

"Do you expect me to back off? Do you?" Tucker said. "I believe I'm a
law-abiding citizen. Just because they interpret the law that way
doesn't make it right."

The Ontario Court of Appeal said the pair ran a marijuana convenience
store "disguised as a church."