TWO JURORS ASK TO BE RELEASED FROM POT TRIAL

Judge Refuses Request, Saying They Have No Choice Except To Find The
Accused Guilty

CALGARY -- Two jurors told a Calgary court late yesterday that they
could not in good conscience convict a medicinal-marijuana crusader of
drug trafficking despite the judge's order to find him guilty.

Both jurors, one man and one woman, asked to be excused from the jury
almost seven hours into deliberating the fate of Grant Krieger, a
49-year-old multiple-sclerosis sufferer who admitted in court that he
ran a marijuana-grow operation to provide pot for himself and the ill.

"I don't feel this man is a guilty man," explained the male juror who
fought back tears as he spoke to the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench.
". . .I believe that I could not live with myself if I'm part of the
conviction of this man."

The woman juror told the court she was too emotionally involved in the
case to judge Mr. Krieger, who she said was helping others. "I can
take your instructions," she said told the judge, "But it's not in my
heart."

Mr. Justice Paul Chrumka reminded them there was only one option in
the case -- a finding of guilty -- and refused their requests to be
excused before sending them back for further discussion.

This is Mr. Krieger's second trial for same alleged crime. It was also
the second time he had gone to trial saying the government gave him no
choice but to provide sufferers of HIV/AIDS, cancer and Lou Gehrig's
disease with pain-easing pot since the government had no supply.

He was charged with possessing marijuana for the purpose of
trafficking in connection with a raid on his house in 1999, during
which 29 cannabis plants were seized. He was subsequently acquitted of
both cultivating a narcotic and trafficking, but the Crown appealed
the case all the way to the Alberta Court of Appeal.

In a unanimous ruling a year ago, the appeal court upheld Mr.
Krieger's cultivation acquittal. The three-member panel agreed with a
lower-court ruling that described the federal government's exemption
of pot possession as an "absurdity" since there was no legal source of
the drug. However, the court ordered a new trial on the charge of
possession for the purpose of trafficking. The court said the trial
judge erred in her explanation of the defence of necessity to the
jurors, who found Mr. Krieger not guilty.

In his closing argument yesterday, defence lawyer Adriano Iovinelli
told the jury that while his client admits to breaking the law, Judge
Chrumka has taken away his only defence -- that of necessity.

"I'm coming before you without a defence," he told the seven-woman,
five-man jury. "There is no doubt that Mr. Krieger was in possession
of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking."

Mr. Iovinelli told the court his client committed the crime out of
compassion for people who were dying. In his closing argument, Crown
prosecutor Scott Couper told the court that supplying marijuana to the
sick in this case was "no excuse for breaking the law."

Judge Chrumka agreed.

In his charge to the jury, Judge Chrumka said Mr. Krieger admitted to
running a grow operation, which means guilt had been proven beyond a
reasonable doubt. Judge Chrumka also said that since no one was in
"imminent peril" and there were reasonable legal alternatives for Mr.
Krieger, the defence of necessity cannot apply.

He ordered the jury to retire to the jury room, pick a foreperson and
return with a verdict of guilty.