[420 Girl]

Hamilton's high priests of pot won a partial reprieve yesterday in the Ontario Court of Appeal, which upheld their pot-trafficking convictions but reduced the stiff sentences handed them last year by a local judge.

Church of the Universe founders Walter Tucker, 76, and Michael Baldasaro, 59, had been out on bail pending appeal since late spring of 2008. The appeal court ordered them to surrender to the Barton Street jail at 3 p.m. yesterday before releasing its decision.

The hemp-hatted pair were convicted in November 2007 after selling small quantities of marijuana, which the church uses as sacrament, to an undercover police officer posing as a new member of the church.

Superior Court Justice John Cavarzan lowered the boom on the unrepentant duo at their sentence hearing the following May. He gave Baldasaro, who had 12 prior trafficking convictions, two years in a federal penitentiary on two counts of trafficking 2.5 grams of pot worth about $30. Tucker, whose criminal record dated back 30 years, was sentenced to 12 months in a provincial reformatory on three counts of trafficking involving about $40 worth of pot.

Cavarzan also ordered the church headquarters on Barton Street East, along with $2,100 in cash seized from Tucker, forfeited to the Crown as "offence related property" under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The appeal court, including Justices Michael Moldaver, Kathryn Feldman and Susan Lang, dismissed their appeals against conviction, but allowed both men's appeals on sentence. The court substituted Baldasaro's two-year prison term with a five-month jail sentence and reduced Tucker's 12-month jail sentence to three months.

"In our respectful view, the trial judge erred in imposing sentences that were manifestly excessive having regard to the very small amounts of marijuana at issue, which totalled less than 10 grams, for which the appellants received about $70," said the court.

The panel agreed with the trial judge that the seizure by police of 14 pounds of "shake" ( plant stems and leaves ), 7,000 clear baggies bearing a marijuana symbol, a digital weigh scale and $2,100 in cash, were relevant considerations on sentence, although the men were not tried for their possession.

Cavarzan found Tucker and Baldasaro had been carrying on a commercial venture for years and described their Barton Street premises, comprising a street-level storefront and upper floor living quarters, as "a marijuana convenience store operated for profit... but disguised as a church."

Nonetheless, said the appeal court, the sentences imposed on Tucker and Baldasaro were too severe.

The court also substituted a partial forfeiture order for the full forfeiture of the building that had been ordered by Cavarzan. The owner of the property, which is now in the possession of the mortgagee, will get back approximately one half of the $22,000 equity in the building.

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