FELGER'S COURTHOUSE ASSAULT TRIAL BEGINS

Although video cameras record movements in the hallway of the Abbotsford
courthouse, the quality of a video tape was not good enough to be used as
evidence in the assault trial of Bradner pot activist Tim Felger.

Felger was in court Thursday for a two-day trial on charges of assault,
assault by trespass and causing a disturbance.

The charges result from an incident at the courthouse on April 15, 2002
when Felger was scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. on another matter.
He had been distributing flyers in the hallway, promoting a marijuana
rally, when a sheriff asked him to hand over the flyers and then asked him
to leave the courthouse. When Felger resisted, sheriffs detained him.

Investigating officer Abbotsford Const. Charlene Lewko testified she did
not view the video tape of the incident when asked by defence lawyer John
Conroy. Lewko told Judge R. J. Lemiski and the court that another police
officer, and other sheriffs saw the video and decided its quality was not
clear enough to be used as evidence.

Deputy sheriff John Sylvester later testified the video camera system is
antiquated and skips "every two or three seconds."

Lewko said she arrested Felger for assault after two sheriffs described the
incident to her. One of those sheriffs showed her a red mark on his left
where he said Felger had bit him, she said. Lewko noted Felger was
co-operative.

Lewko also testified she heard the reports from the two sheriffs together,
not independently. Charges of assault by trespass and causing a disturbance
against Felger were added later, she said.

Conroy also asked Lewko why as the investigating officer she had statements
from two civilians who had been in the hallway when there were 30
witnesses. "I didn't have the time to interview them" due to lack of
manpower, said Lewko.

When asked by Conroy if she knew that distributing pamphlets in a public
place was not a crime, she replied, "No, not to my knowledge."

Sylvester testified he stepped out of the sheriff's office and lost his
balance when he stepped on a piece of paper on the floor but didn't fall.

He said he then noticed up to 30 pieces of paper throughout the hall, on
couches, in the pamphlet area and stuck into the notice boards in the
hallway. "It looked a horrible mess," Sylvester said.

The sheriff said he noticed Felger holding a tidy stack of papers and asked
if the flyers in the hall were his. When Felger replied, "No," Sylvester
said he asked Felger to hand over his papers, "so no one would slip and
hurt themselves."

Sylvester reported that at that point Felger became agitated.

"He screamed, 'No, they're mine,' " said Sylvester. He said he realized
Felger had lost his temper because his "fists were clenched and his eyes
fixed . . . typical of someone in a rage."

Sylvester said he advised Felger to leave the courthouse. When he refused,
other sheriffs came to Sylvester's aid, constrained Felger and took him to
the detention cells in the basement of the courthouse.

The trial continues today.