BORDERLAND

Ex-UT student learns punishment for stabbing

6/27/2014
BLADE STAFF

Though he did not start the fight, Joseph Bialecki didn’t walk away from it, and he wound up stabbing his attacker and being beaten by his attacker’s friends.

On Wednesday, Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Linda Jennings put the former University of Toledo student on community control for four years and ordered that he:

● Spend six months on electronic monitoring.

● Perform 200 hours of community service.

● Have no contact with the victim.

● Consume no alcohol or drugs.

● Complete assessments for substance abuse and anger management.

Bialecki, 19, of Temperance entered an Alford plea May 12 to aggravated riot for the Aug. 23 fight on the UT campus in which he stabbed Cody Halka, 17. Judge Jennings noted that the incident started with name-calling and could have ended there.

“I realize the victim initiated this situation, however, when you started to walk away you should have kept on walking,” the judge told him.

While not an admission of guilt, the Alford plea meant Bialecki acknowledged sufficient evidence existed to convict him of the riot charge.