Accused in impaired driving case involving pedestrian back in court

A Lethbridge woman who failed to show up for a court hearing earlier this month to change her plea, was granted another hearing after she and her lawyer appeared in court Thursday.

Jessica Lee Gearing was expected to ask a judge on April 19 to strike a previous guilty plea on a single charge of impaired driving causing bodily harm. But when she didn’t appear in court, and Lethbridge lawyer Ingrid Hess was unable to explain her absence, the matter was adjourned.

“For some reason Miss Gearing was in a state of distress at that time and missed that court date,” Hess said Thursday.

She said she was able to contact Gearing shortly afterward, and promised her client will attend the rescheduled hearing on June 10.

Gearing pleaded guilty in 2020 and was set to be sentenced last September, 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 Kristin Ailsby said she would 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.

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.