A Red Deer man who crashed a pickup truck through backyards and into a kitchen confirmed in provincial court on Monday that he intends to plead guilty in April.
Edward Charles Soules, 25, was to have a trial on three charges but the case was adjourned for the guilty plea on April 13, followed by sentencing, Judge David Plosz heard.
Defence lawyer Will Willms told court Soules will plead guilty to one of the charges.
Willms said the delay in proceeding on Monday was to allow for Soules’ employment.
Soules then confirmed his intention, when asked by Plosz, if he indeed will plead guilty to a single charge.
A trial had been set late last summer but was delayed because of a possible Charter of Rights and Freedoms issue.
Soules is charged with impaired driving, driving with a blood-alcohol content of more than .08 and obstructing a peace officer.
The Crown earlier withdrew a charge of failing to stop at the scene of a collision.
Four Crown witnesses were expected to testify.
Red Deer City RCMP said that on Aug. 14, 2009, a half-ton pickup crashed through three backyards and into the kitchen of a home early in the morning.
The police said the eastbound pickup was on 39th Street near Davison Drive when it jumped the curb and smashed into the yards of three houses along Denison Crescent.
After leaving the road, the truck scraped past a huge tree, smashed through a vinyl fence and garden shed in the first yard, clipped an attached deck in the second yard and, after plowing through another vinyl fence, pushed its way through another wooden deck.
It finally came to a rest inside the kitchen of a two-storey house where a woman was awake with her baby.
The road along that stretch is fairly close to residences, with just a narrow strip of green between the fences and the curb.
The pickup truck driver took off. But a suspect was nabbed a short time later by police patrolling the area.
Residents had long expressed safety concerns about the road.
The strip of road was a topic for discussion by Red Deer city council shortly after the crash. The city decided to plant tall shrubs and install temporary concrete barriers along the north side of 39th Street to prevent vehicles from smashing through into backyards.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com