Pubdate: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 Source: Sentinel Review (CN ON) Page: A1 Copyright: 2014 Woodstock Sentinel Review Contact: http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/letters Website: http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2385 Author: Heather Rivers BENDER DODGES JAIL - FOR NOW Jim Bender isn't going to jail - at least not this month. And, if he can provide the right medical documentation to Justice John Skowronski on October 7, it is possible he will not go at all. On Tuesday, what was supposed to be Bender's sentencing turned into another adjournment after Skowronski requested the records following a consultation with Bender's lawyer Grant Rayner. "If we don't get them we may have to proceed without them," Skowronski said, While the Crown has asked for six months jail time for Bender, the medical documents could pave the way for a conditional or suspended sentence. The records, documenting his congenital heart disease and malignant melanoma, went missing after Bender's Ingersoll doctor died and they were transferred to a Woodstock doctor, who moved several times. Fifty-year-old Bender made headlines earlier this year after claiming he sold pot to support his severely autistic son, Jayden Bender, after provincial funding was cut for respite care. "It was the stupidest thing I have ever done," Bender said Tuesday. In mid-April, the owner of Lady Godiva's pleaded guilty to several possession and trafficking marijuana charges. Now Bender, worried about leaving his wife alone to care for their disabled son, is hopeful that he may be able to avoid straight jail time. But he isn't breathing a sigh of relief just yet. "It's not over yet," he said Tuesday morning outside the courtroom. His wife Angela Sjaarda said that while she was "a little relieved," the couple knew they had to build up to "the next crescendo." "We're positive we can get our hands on the medical records," she said. In April Bender said he made the decision to plead guilty out of concern for the stress of the court system on his fragile family and because he just couldn't afford to spend more money on lawyers. Woodstock police charged Bender last January after they executed a search warrant at Bender's Dundas Street business, Lady Godiva's, which sells drug paraphernalia. While some have claimed on social media sites that Bender sold marijuana before his son lost his funding, Bender vehemently denies it. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D