A Sarnia man who impressed a judge with his life turnaround, helping him earn a time-served sentence and probation for manslaughter, is back behind bars while facing three new charges, The Observer has learned.
The charges allege Timothy Noj violated three aspects of his new three-year probation order just two months after it was imposed including returning to Lambton County and having weapons, court records show.
Noj, 34, pleaded guilty in late March to manslaughter linked to the Jan. 9, 2021, death of Luis Hernandez following what Sarnia police called a severe assault at a Confederation Street townhouse complex. Through an agreed statement of facts, Noj admitted to slicing the 26-year-old former St. Clair high school and Lambton College student’s throat with a knife amid a dispute over a drug debt, leaving his mother heartbroken.
During Noj’s sentencing in late November, Justice Mark Hornblower said in more than two decades behind the bench he’s rarely seen a person so committed to their rehabilitation. He listed more than a dozen things Noj had done since the deadly incident to change his ways including staying sober the entire time, repairing his relationship with his family, finishing his high school diploma, getting a full-time job, turning to the Bible, and embracing his Indigenous roots. The Serpent River First Nation member was adopted by a Sarnia family as a toddler.
His various efforts all factored into the judge’s decision to impose a time-served jail sentence – he had just shy of two years’ worth of credit in pre-sentence custody – and three years of probation. The probation order features various rules including bans on illicit drugs, alcohol, weapons, contacting Hernandez’s family members or his ex-girlfriend, or coming to Lambton County unless he’s with his parents or has written permission from his probation officer. Noj moved to Ancaster to help leaving his old life behind.
Goal on Jan. 28, just two months after the order was imposed, Noj was allegedly in the Lambton County community of Plympton-Wyoming with weapons, court records allege. He was also charged with not keeping the peace and being of good behavior, a standard rule included in most probation orders.
Noj, who turns 35 later this month, appeared twice in Sarnia’s video remand court last week from the city’s jail wearing orange inmate clothes and a blue surgical mask. During his second appearance, defense lawyer Neil Rooke asked, via duty counsel David Burns, for one week to have discussions with the Crown about a possible plea deal.
Last year, Rooke suggested a suspended sentence and three years’ probation or two months of house arrest combined with the 22 months’ credit for his client’s manslaughter sentence. Assistant Crown attorney David Nicol asked for two more years in jail on top of the nearly two years he’d already served.
Hornblower acknowledged during his decision in November less than two years’ time-served was at the low end of the range for manslaughter.
“But I do not believe there could be any society benefit to an additional period of incarceration in light of the significant steps of rehabilitation taken by Mr. Noj entirely of his own initiative,” Hornblower said.
Noj’s about-face was well underway by January 2022, when he was sentenced to 39 days in jail for a string of unrelated crimes linked to drug-addiction issues. A key driver in his ongoing sobriety at the time was his client’s remorse for what he did to his friend while they were all intoxicated that Saturday night in January 2021, Rooke said at the time.
Police arrested Noj at a local motel three days after Hernandez’s death and charged him with second-degree murder, but he was ordered to stand trial on the reduced charge of manslaughter following a preliminary inquiry.
This was the first of four Sarnia homicide investigations in just a three-week stretch in January 2021 that set the city on edge and prompted police to issue a caution for residents to lock their windows and doors.