Pubdate: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN) Copyright: 2007 The StarPhoenix Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400 Author: Lori Coolican, The StarPhoenix POT CASE MAY BE BASIS FOR APPEAL Medical marijuana activist Grant Krieger doesn't have a TV or an Internet connection, and he did not follow the recent trial of the Yorkton father who shot his 16-year-old daughter's boyfriend to death almost four years ago. He doesn't know Kim Walker or the facts of the case against him, but he does remember what it's like to stand accused and hear a judge tell jurors to reach a guilty verdict, Krieger said in an interview Friday. "I don't know whether he's guilty or not guilty, because I haven't heard any of the evidence," the 51-year-old said of Walker from his home in Alberta. "What I'm saying is, the decision is between those 12 people on the jury." Krieger scored a victory last fall when the Supreme Court of Canada quashed his earlier conviction for possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, on the grounds that a judge had deprived him of his right to a jury trial by instructing the jury members to retire to the deliberation room, elect a foreman, "and then return to the court with a verdict of guilty." Walker's defence lawyer, Morris Bodnar, cited Krieger's case when he sought a mistrial late Thursday, midway through jury deliberations. Walker admits he fired the five bullets that killed 24-year-old James Hayward on March 17, 2003, but maintains he did not mean to cause his death. Prior to the shooting, he made repeated unsuccessful attempts to get his daughter Jadah to stay away from Hayward, who was a convicted drug dealer rumoured to be supplying the girl with morphine. In her instructions to Walker's jury following closing arguments from the Crown and defence this week, Queen's Bench Justice Jennifer Pritchard told jurors they had to find him guilty of at least manslaughter. According to the Supreme Court's ruling in Krieger's case, that amounts to usurping the jury's power and thus depriving the accused of his constitutional right to a jury trial, Bodnar argued. In an interview prior to Walker's conviction Friday, University of Saskatchewan law Prof. Tim Quigley said Walker would likely have "a pretty solid ground of appeal here to get a new trial" if found guilty of first-or second-degree murder, given Pritchard's directions to the jury. The Krieger decision was "a very clear statement by the Supreme Court of Canada that a jury is always entitled to acquit," Quigley explained. "They can't be told that; they've got to figure it out for themselves. So counsel can't stand up and say, 'You can ignore the law and acquit my client,' but the option of acquitting cannot be taken away by the trial judge." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek