Impaired Tesla driver who blamed deadly crash on mechanical defect loses bail bid ahead of appeal

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Jefferson Dance spent the holidays behind bars after learning he will not be granted bail pending his hearing before Ontario’s Court of Appeal.

Justice Steve Coroza ruled Dance’s appeal, “while not frivolous, is a weak appeal and there is a strong public interest in having the sentence immediately enforced.”

The judge denied Dance’s application for bail, about a week after the hearing in Toronto.

Dance, who is now 48, and from Wasaga Beach, was sentenced in November to eight years in prison for impaired and dangerous driving causing death in the April 9, 2022, crash that killed 62-year-old Jim Lynne.

Justice Mark Edwards found Dance guilty of both counts after hearing Dance, with four times the legal limit of alcohol in his system, crashed his Tesla Model Y into the back of Lynne’s Nissan Juke - at around midnight along Mosley Street in Wasaga Beach, while Lynne was out delivering pizzas.

The court heard Dance was recorded driving 196 kilometres per hour moments prior to the crash and 148 kilometres per hour one minute before the crash.

Following his conviction and sentencing hearing, Dance formally appealed the decision with the Court of Appeal for Ontario arguing Justice Edwards did not properly consider claims by the defence that Dance’s Tesla may have had a mechanical defect that caused unanticipated acceleration as the Tesla reached a top speed of nearly 200 kilometres per hour in the seconds prior to the crash.

The court heard Dance was behind the wheel following a night out drinking with a friend, first at a restaurant in Thornbury and later a bar in Wasaga Beach, where the two men were captured on surveillance video leaving minutes before Lynne was killed.

Lynne’s family called him a loyal and loving brother and stepfather, who often drove a shuttle in town getting people home safely.

The ruling means Dance will remain behind bars until his appeal is heard.