Man gets four months jail for not obeying court orders
By Delon Shurtz on January 14, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.comL
A Lethbridge man who refuses to abide by court orders has received a four-month jail sentence.
Jyi Mickell Trotter was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in Lethbridge provincial court to one count of driving while prohibited and two counts of failing to comply with release conditions.
Court was told Trotter had, in December 2018, been prohibited from driving for three years. In January of last year, however, he was seen driving a vehicle. He had also been ordered during a bail hearing last September to remain in his home or on his property 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and to not be in a vehicle.
On Jan. 3, 2020 police noticed a vehicle parked across from Trotter’s residence, and recalled seeing the same vehicle the day before leaving the residence and driving through alleys downtown. They did not identify the driver at the time.
However, the next day police saw Trotter get into the vehicle and drive away. They followed the suspect for some time, but didn’t attempt a traffic stop given Trotter’s history of fleeing from police and their concern for public safety. On Jan. 4 police noticed that Trotter was a passenger in another vehicle, and conducted a traffic stop.
“He was hiding under blankets in the back seat,” Crown Prosecutor Bruce Ainscough told court.
Ainscough pointed out Trotter has “a very lengthy record,” including convictions for dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, flight from police, and resisting arrest, as well as convictions for property and violence-related offences.
Trotter was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail for driving while prohibited, and 30 days for the two counts of failing to comply with release orders.
He also faces other charges on unrelated matters, and is scheduled to stand trial on some of those charges – flight from police, dangerous driving, possession of stole property – next month.
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