SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife man convicted of dealing marijuana in 2009 hobbled into territorial court April 5 to change the terms of his 80 hours of community service, part of his sentence for dealing drugs.

Jay Bran, lawyer for offender James Victor Schiller, said "mobility issues" due to a work-related injury were preventing his client from fulfilling the requirement.

"I wasn't aware this was going to be a hearing," Crown prosecutor Glen Boyd said in surprise.

Boyd proceeded to argue that Schiller's community service order shouldn't be cancelled but rather the completion time should be extended in case his medical condition improved. Boyd added an extension would also allow probation officers time and "some creativity" to find other, less physically demanding work for Schiller to perform.

Bran had initially requested that the community service requirement be dropped, but Judge Garth Malakoe pointed out that Schiller had only requested an extension, which the judge granted.

During his April 2, 2009 trial, Schiller, 41, was found guilty of trafficking marijuana in an amount not exceeding three kilograms.

The agreed statement of facts from that court case indicate that the Ulukhaktok RCMP, acting on a tip, intercepted a box labelled "meat" flown into the community on April 3, 2008. Inside the box, the police found a mini-pizza box containing two plastic bags of marijuana. The first bag contained 169 grams and the second bag had 249.6 grams of pot.

Schiller was convicted of sending the package, and on May 28, 2009, territorial court Judge Christine Gagnon sentenced him to a $500 fine, a six-month conditional sentence, two years of probation and a 10-year firearms ban. As part of the probation order, he was required to complete 80 hours of community service in the first 18 months.

As a result of the April 5 ruling, Schiller now has the full 24 months of probation to complete the community service work.

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