Convicted driver’s bail chances amid appeal slim after breach: Expert

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Before convicted, prohibited driver Jesse Bleck can move forward with the case involving his bail breach, he needs to find some assistance.

“Mr. Bleck, who is your lawyer?” justice of the peace Terry Steenson asked during Bleck’s brief Ontario Court of Justice appearance in London on Wednesday.

“I’m still getting one. I just need a week to get one,” he told Steenson via teleconferencing link from the local jail.

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If he finds legal representation, Bleck will have hired his third lawyer in a year. He had a local criminal defence lawyer for his jury trial last summer, when he was convicted of driving while prohibited and failing to remain at the scene of the July 21, 2019, crash that left then-teenage cyclist Tristan Roby, now 23, with catastrophic injuries.

He hired a new lawyer last winter to handle his sentencing hearing. In June, Superior Court Justice Kelly Tranquilli sentenced Bleck, 31, to 4 1/2 years in prison. The decision came just shy of a year from when the lengthy trial started and five years after Roby was struck by Bleck’s Nissan Altima on Exeter Road.

Bleck was on bail for most of the time before he was tried and sentenced, but a remnant of in-custody pre-trial time reduced his sentence to three years and nine months.

He was granted bail earlier this month pending an appeal of his sentence to the Ontario Court of Appeal. The conditions included strict house arrest at an address in Norfolk County.

But only about three weeks later, Bleck was arrested in London, on Aug. 19, and charged with three counts of breaching his specific bail conditions. The allegations are that he failed to remain in his residence, wasn’t with one of his sureties and was riding in the front seat of a vehicle.

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He’s also charged with one count of mischief under $5,000 in connection with damage done to City of London property on Aug. 20, the day after his arrest.

Bleck was described by the sentencing judge in the Roby matter as having “an entrenched attitude of disobedience and defiance and a belief the rules don’t apply to him.” He has a long history of failing to follow court orders. At the time of the crash, he was a prohibited driver.

He was with two other men when he drove into Roby, who was out riding his bicycle with a friend with a plan to go night fishing. Roby suffered multiple injuries including broken bones, scrapes, internal injuries, and, most significantly, a severe brain injury that has left him confined to a wheelchair and requiring round-the-clock care.

Bleck drove almost a kilometre with the bicycle stuck under the car, throwing sparks as it dragged along the pavement. He stopped at a motel parking lot, where he and one of the passengers ran away.

He was arrested several months later. At his trial, during which he was on bail wearing an ankle monitor, Bleck maintained his innocence. The friend he ran away with testified and tried to take the fall. And Bleck’s ex-girlfriend wanted to rescind police statements in which she identified Bleck as the driver.

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The jury was not convinced by either witness and convicted Bleck of all charges. At his sentencing, Tranquilli was told that Bleck continued to drive after the crash, and was charged.

While Bleck’s appeal is likely months away, one veteran London criminal lawyer said his chances of getting bail again or adjusting his release terms from the appeal court have likely evaporated.

“You get one bite at the apple,” Gord Cudmore said about orders that are set down by the province’s top court. “Once you’ve taken that bite, they‘ve issued terms and you’re stuck with them.

“The court makes orders, not suggestions.”

Bleck returns to court on Sept. 6.

jsims@postmedia.com

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