'Creator told me to' defense doesn't work

REGINA, Saskatchewan, April 21 (UPI) -- Three Canadian men from a Saskatchewan reservation were sentenced Monday to prison for running a marijuana farm the leader claimed was the Creator's order.

The men were found guilty of running a farm of 10 marijuana greenhouses, or what Canadian police describe as "grow-ops," in Regina in February.

The judge sentenced alleged ringleader Lawrence Agecoutay to six years in prison, his brother Robert to 3 1/2 years and Chester Girard to 5 1/2 years, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., reported.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police seized more than 6,000 marijuana plants in the raid in the summer of 2005, court papers from the jury trial said.

Lawrence Agecoutay, 52, testified the plants weren't meant to be sold and that the Creator had told him to grow them as medicine to fight diabetes and cancer, court records show.

The sentences were midway between harsher penalties sought by Crown prosecutors and conditional sentences sought by the defense, the CBC said.