Article content

Ottawa lawyer John Hale was quick on his feet in Court Room No. 2 on Friday and, as always, had his eye on the ball.

Upset that he wasn’t credited more for time spent in custody, his client, an Ottawa thief who lost his left eye to cancer while at the Innes Road jail removed his ocular prosthetic and threw it at the lawyer, who caught it after a single bounce off the counsel desk.



We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Ottawa thief throws eye at lawyer Back to video

“That’s the thing about this business, there’s always something new that happens,” said Hale, who joked that it was a “new form of retainer.” Told it was a good catch, he said modestly, “I could see it coming.”

His client, a thief who steals to feed a drug habit, was sentenced Friday to 18 months. He served about 102 days in pre-trial custody and was credited for 153. He thought he deserved more but he was confused about the process.

Jesse Whitlock, 32, is going back to jail. The lawyer gave the fake eyeball to a police guard for fear his client, who has mental-health issues, would flush it down a toilet in protest.