Accused to strike plea in impaired driving case

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on February 23, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A Lethbridge woman who pleaded guilty in 2020 to one count of impaired driving causing bodily harm and was all set to be sentenced last September, will ask a judge to strike the plea when the matter returns to court in a couple of months.
Jessica Lee Gearing was scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 16, following sentencing submissions earlier in the summer by the Crown and defence. The Crown recommended Gearing receive a sentence between one year and 15 months, while defence suggested a sentence ranging from three to six months.
During the hearing in July, Judge Kristen Ailsby said she will sentence Gearing to a jail term, but she reserved her decision to consider an appropriate period of custody. When the matter returned for sentencing in September, Gearing, who then had a new lawyer, told court she wants to strike her guilty plea.
The matter has been adjourned several times since then, but during a hearing last week in Lethbridge provincial court, the date for Ailsby to hear Gearing’s application was set for April 19.
Following her guilty plea in November 2020, court was told Gearing, 33, had been in a bar in July 2019 and was preparing to drive away when an acquaintance tried to stop her from leaving. Gearing, however, ran over the woman as she drove away. Gearing, who was intoxicated at the time and did not realize she had driven over anyone, was arrested a couple of hours later at her residence.

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