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A Vernon man charged with shining a laser at an airplane has had the charges dropped.

Blake Everett Dergez appeared at the Vernon courthouse today, June 26, scheduled to plead guilty to several other charges that stem from the night he allegedly pointed the laser at planes heading in and out of Kelowna airport.

However, like other previous court appearances, the proceedings didn't go smoothly.

Dergez's case dates back to September 2021 when he was arrested for the laser-pointing incident.

Vernon RCMP said at the time that a group of people began searching for the source of the laser on the ground and found Dergez in Becker Park.

He was arrested and charged with assaulting five civilians and an RCMP officer, along with uttering threats, carrying a weapon, bear spray and drug possession. He was also supposed to be under curfew at an address in Kelowna at the time.

The charges for pointing the laser at a plane came a year after the event, and days after iNFOnews.ca made numerous requests with federal Crown prosecutors about the case.

However, the two laser-pointing charges were stayed by the federal Crown in February. As is standard practice, prosecutors don't have to give reasons why charges are dropped.

On the remaining charges, Dergez has been scheduled for stand trial twice before but each time the plan was kiboshed.

Last August, he appeared in court but refused to say anything and didn't have a lawyer. The next day he said he'd been "blacklisted" and no defence lawyer would touch him.

Having retained a lawyer earlier this year, Dergez appeared by video at the Vernon courthouse today ready to plead guilty to four of the dozen charge that stem back to the night of the alleged laser incident.

The charge against him for assaulting an RCMP officer was to be amended to "attempt" to assault rather than "commit," and a guilty plea was planned for carrying a weapon, a breach and having bear spray on him.

He was also going to plead guilty to two separate assaults on prison officers, which have taken place since he was arrested on the night in question as he has remained in custody at the Okanagan Correctional Centre.

He was already found guilty of assaulting a prison guard in a separate incident earlier this year.

"He does not work well in confinement" defence lawyer Cameron Johnson told the court.

The lawyer said Dergez felt "picked on" in jail by the prison officers.

Johnson said a psychiatric report had diagnosed him with borderline personality disorder.

The Crown wanted a four-year jail sentence for all the charges combined, and in an unusual move requested that Dergez not be given enhanced credit for his time already spent in custody, which is standard practice.

However, after almost an hour of legal logistics between lawyers and the judge, Dergez then changed his mind on his guilty pleas.

Dergez told Justice Gary Weatherill he thought he would be released on bail if he pleaded guilty to the charges.

The court was adjourned for him to speak to his lawyer.

Ultimately, Dergez did not plead guilty and the case will now go to trial – for the third time.

Along with these charges, also ticking through the court system are two charges of possessing fentanyl and heroin for the purpose of trafficking which dates back to 2019.

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