Judge grants motion to adjourn trial in 2003 marijuana grow-op case
By: Mary Riley, Lindsay This Week (CN ON), 06-02-08

A Fenelon Falls man originally charged in a case that goes back almost five years will not stand trial until September.

Nick Churchill, 33 is one of six men who were originally charged in connection with the attempted rip-off of a marijuana grow operation in 2003 near Norland while dressed as police officers. He is facing several weapons charges, a drug charge and a charge of impersonating a police officer.

He is the only one of the six accused who opted to have his case go to trial.

Gordon Churchill, 53 of Port Perry, Jody Churchill, 30, of Port Perry, Phillip Weddel, 34 of Uxbridge, Garfield Lefort, 32 of Port Perry and Shane Prince, 35 of Oshawa pleaded guilty last year.

Jody Churchill, Mr. Weddel and Mr. Lefort were sentenced to jail terms of 90 days last July. In December, Gordon Churchill received 30 months in prison.

Mr. Prince was scheduled to appear in court the same day but failed to appear and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Testimony during those court hearings revealed that in September, 2003 they went to a marijuana grow operation near Head Lake to "rip off" as many of the 18,000 plants as they could, while dressed as police officers to scare away anyone else at the property.

In court in Lindsay on Monday, Mr. Churchill's lawyer David Steinberg asked for an adjournment to the trial, which was scheduled to begin this month.

Mr. Churchill is represented by the Toronto law firm of Derstine Penman and has asked that one of the partners, either Dirk Derstine or Jennifer Penman represent him.

Mr. Steinberg, is also with the firm, and he told Justice Barry MacDougall that the complexity of the case, the seriousness of the charges and the fact that the other men convicted in connection to the case were sent to jail makes the request for an experienced trial lawyer a reasonable one.

He laid the blame for almost five years of delays squarely on the law firm's shoulders.

"The fault lies with the firm and not Mr. Churchill," he said.

Mr. Steinberg said scheduling conflicts, computer errors and heavy trial workloads for both Mr. Derstine and Ms Penman were "the reason this case has gone off the rails." In asking for the trial to be rescheduled until the Court's fall sittings, he said, "Mr. Derstine has undertaken to make himself available."

Crown prosecutor Rick Bagg argued that the long history of the case and the length of time that has elapsed are important reasons for the trial to proceed as scheduled, suggesting Derstine Penman could appoint more experienced counsel if he thought it necessary. While he didn't dispute the seriousness of the charges, Mr. Bagg challenged Mr. Steinberg's claim that the case is complex.

"In my view, this is not a particularly complex, trial," he said. "There are no civil witnesses; there are eight to nine Crown witnesses and they are all police officers." He added there are also no violations of the Charter of Rights.

After considering the arguments for both sides, Justice MacDougall ruled in favour of Mr. Churchill, setting a trial date for Sept. 22. Mr. Bagg immediately asked the Court that the trial be the first order of business for that day.

The trial is expected to last five days.

2004 H.U.M.A.N.: Hemp Users Medical Access Network - Toronto Medical Marijuana