Pubdate: Tue, 27 May 2008
Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON)
Copyright: 2008 The Hamilton Spectator
Contact:  http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/181
Author: Barbara Brown
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/spirit.htm (Spiritual or Sacramental)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

CHURCH OF THE UNIVERSE FOUNDER RELEASED PENDING APPEAL

Church of the Universe founder Michael Baldasaro has been sprung from 
prison pending an appeal of his pot-trafficking conviction. But the 
Ontario Court of Appeal forbade the hemp-hatted clergyman from 
returning to his church's Barton Street East headquarters or 
communicating with its co-founder Walter Tucker.

Baldasaro was released from Millhaven Penitentiary on Friday, his 
59th birthday, after Justice Susan Lang of the appeal court agreed to 
a $1,000 surety of bail from a nonchurch member.

"I've got complete strangers coming up to me on the street and 
offering their condolences," the freed man said yesterday. "They're 
saying they can't stand what's going on."

A Hamilton judge sentenced Baldasaro on April 25 to two years in 
prison after he was found guilty the previous November on two counts 
of trafficking involving a total $30 worth of marijuana.

Tucker, 75, who defended himself at trial and who had no recent 
convictions on his record, was found guilty of three counts of 
trafficking involving $40 worth of pot. He is currently serving a 
12-month jail sentence.

A jury found the pair had trafficked small amounts of marijuana, 
which church members use as sacrament, to a female undercover police 
officer. The officer took out a membership and visited the church on 
five occasions between May 2003 and February 2004

Baldasaro said he is worried about his older friend, Tucker, who has 
complained to another church member about inmate violence and the 
"filthy conditions" he is subjected to at the Penetanguishene super 
jail, near Midland.

Defence lawyer Peter Boushy, who represented Baldasaro at trial and 
in the court of appeal, said he wants to assist Tucker with his 
application for bail pending an appeal of his own convictions and sentence.

He said Tucker would need to show his grounds for appeal were not 
frivolous, he would appear for court when required and it would not 
be against the public interest to release him pending appeal, which 
could take a year or more before being heard by the province's top court.

At their sentencing last month, Superior Court Justice John Cavarzan 
also issued an order for seizure of the church's headquarters, which 
comprise a storefront at street level and four upper apartments.

Boushy said the forfeiture order was automatically stayed under the 
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act once the notice of appeal was 
filed with the court.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom