Update: Guilty plea stays on record for Leslie Black in attempted murder case

The latest hurdle in a long-running court case of a man who pleaded guilty to attempted murder – and then wished to take that plea back – has been decided.

Leslie Black pleaded guilty to  the attempted murder of Marlene Bird in April 2015. A judge ruled that plea will stand, despite Black’s efforts to take it back.

The decision was handed down at Prince Albert Provincial Court Friday.

Bird was left horribly burned, nearly blind and in need of a double leg amputation after the attack in June 2014.

Black had asked to have the plea expunged from his record on Nov. 12, 2015.

In a previous hearing before Judge Hugh Harradence, Black’s lawyer Brent Little argued the ramifications of pleading guilty were never properly explained to his client.

Black claimed he would have never pleaded guilty if he’d known there was a chance he’d be labelled a Dangerous Offender; a classification that could mean a prisoner faces a “sentence of indeterminate length,” or essentially life in prison.

Guilty plea will stay on Leslie Black’s record, expungement claim denied @princealbertnow

— Spencer Sterritt (@Spencer_Sterrit) June 3, 2016

But what does an expungement mean?

If Judge Harradence had decided Black did not fully understand the ramifications of pleading guilty, then the case would’ve returned to square one.

Since the guilty plea will remain on Black’s record, the court now proceeds to sentencing.