Listen to this article
Estimated 2 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
A Nova Scotia provincial court judge has refused to let a professional boxer from Sydney, N.S., change his mind a second time on an assault charge, writing in a decision that his guilty plea was “voluntary, unequivocal and informed.”
Ryan Rozicki initially pleaded not guilty after being charged with common assault and uttering threats stemming from an incident Jan. 20, 2024.
According to the judge’s decision this week, a trial was scheduled for October 2024, but it was adjourned twice at the defence’s request and rescheduled before Rozicki changed his plea to guilty on March 12, 2025.
That decision was based on legal advice from a lawyer in the United States, whose opinion was that even with a conviction, Rozicki would still be able to travel to the U.S. for fights.
The charge of uttering threats was dropped and sentencing was scheduled for May 7, 2025, but Rozicki failed to appear and his lawyer requested an adjournment.
The following month, Rozicki applied to have his guilty plea changed back, but the case was adjourned eight more times before being heard in March 2026.
Travel could be affected
In dismissing the application, Judge Diane McGrath said Rozicki’s U.S. legal adviser changed his mind sometime after March 2025, suggesting a guilty verdict could hamper Rozicki’s ability to travel to the United States.
McGrath said according to the law, the change in information came too late for Rozicki to change his guilty plea, which was entered “based on the circumstances as they then existed.”
“Even if the application of a foreign state’s immigration policy to a Canadian citizen could be considered a legally relevant collateral consequence in this context … Mr. Rozicki has failed to demonstrate how his plea was uninformed or even misinformed at the time it was entered,” McGrath wrote.
“There is no conceivable situation where Mr. Rozicki could have acted differently on the information that was available at the time of his plea as the events he is attempting to use to justify the withdrawal of his guilty plea had yet to happen.”
Rozicki is due back in court May 28 to set a date for sentencing.
MORE TOP STORIES