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.  
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