Moreau man rejects plea deal for alleged drunk driving crash that killed tow truck driver

Justin P. Rodriguez, 42, rejected an offer of 15 years to life in exchange for a plea to second-degree murder during a hearing on Thursday in Saratoga County Court.

The crash happened on Sept. 15, 2022 at about 10:41 p.m. between exits 15 and 16 in Wilton. Police said Rodriguez was heading north when he left his lane and drove onto the shoulder, striking and killing 33-year-old Pottersville resident Alex Bleickhardt, who was servicing a disabled box truck on the side of the highway.

Rodriguez is a repeat DWI offender with multiple convictions resulting in a permanently revoked license.

He was indicted in February on multiple charges, which also included aggravated vehicular homicide, second-degree manslaughter, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and aggravated driving while intoxicated.

At Thursday’s hearing, Assistant District Attorney Shawn Lescault provided the court with a list of Rodriguez’s previous convictions.

Judge James Murphy read the information, stating that Rodriguez was sentenced on July 5, 2018 in Saratoga County Court to 1 to 3 years in prison to resolve two separate felony DWI cases. He was arrested on DWI charges on June 4, 2017 and Sept. 24, 2017. His driving privileges were permanently revoked.

Rodriguez was released in July 2020, according to the state inmate database.

In addition, he was convicted in Fort Edward Village Court on Nov. 4, 2010 and received a conditional discharge for a Sept. 15, 2010 drunk driving arrest.

Lescault plans to introduce this information at trial.

Rodriguez’s attorney, Michael Martin, did not agree to stipulate to those prior convictions.

The rest of the hourlong hearing dealt with procedural matters including witnesses that each side plan to call during the trial.

Lescault said he plans to call an ex-girlfriend of Rodriguez’s to testify that he possessed multiple firearms and typically carried a handgun. The testimony is intended to rebut any argument that the gun found did not belong to the defendant.

Family, friends and co-workers of Bleickhardt were in the courtroom for the proceeding. They were wearing shirts that said “#Tow Lives Matter. Slow Down. Move Over” on the front. On the back, the shirts said: “In Memory of Alex ‘Hillbilly’ Bleickhardt. We’ll drag your chains from here.”

Bleickhardt’s mother, Beth Shropshire-Bruno, said after the hearing that she was disappointed that Rodriguez did not take the plea deal.

“He doesn’t seek to take responsibility for what he’s done. He made a decision to drive and he killed my son,” she said.

She would have preferred a longer sentence – ideally 40 years or so to represent each year that her son would have lived had his life not been cut short.

“There’s a 12-year-old boy who doesn’t have a father anymore,” she said.

Bleickhardt had been an employee of TowAway in Hudson Falls for four years and had worked for other companies. He was described as a “happy-go-lucky” guy who loved his dog.

In October 2022, truck drivers staged a caravan of about 80 trucks that lined up in the parking lot of Wilton Mall and traveled north to the location of TowAway LLC on Route 4.

The trial is expected to last three weeks and over 300 jurors are likely to be processed.