An Astoria man was sentenced Feb. 7 to nearly two years in prison for striking and killing a pedestrian while driving recklessly in 2021.

Jesse L. Holmes, 37, entered a no-contest plea in Clatsop County Circuit Court for a charge of criminally negligent homicide.

Holmes had been driving to Seaside from Portland when civilian witnesses observed erratic and concerning driving behavior. They attempted to call 911 for a stretch of 5 miles, but were unable to contact law enforcement due to a lack of cell service in the area.

“Then they were directly behind him when he’d passed the Relief Pitcher area on Highway 101, watched him drift entirely into the bike lane — the entire truck into the bike lane — and strike Mr. Belshe, who was walking in the bike lane with his bike,” said prosecutor Sarah Shepherd.

Zane Belshe, 59, of Seaside, was pronounced dead at the scene. A member of Belshe’s family attended the sentencing by video.

“It’s a terrible thing,” the family member said. “It’s tragic all the way around, for Mr. Holmes and my family. And I just hope he gets the help that he needs to be a productive citizen going forward once he’s served his time.”

Holmes was arraigned for criminally negligent manslaughter in January 2023. He was later released without bail over prosecutors’ objection and spent time in three different out-of-county sober living facilities with a GPS bracelet.

After being kicked out of the last facility in September 2023, he was ordered to stay at a fourth treatment facility but soon left and failed to charge his GPS bracelet, leaving prosecutors with no way to track his location.

A warrant was issued for his arrest. Holmes remained at large for 10 months until he was arrested in Portland in August 2024 and was brought back to Clatsop County Jail.

Attorney Clark Fry said that Holmes had been working with Clatsop Behavioral Health while in custody, and had been undergoing medication assisted treatment.

“What I can say is that Mr. Holmes was deeply affected as well by this,” he said. “I think the PTSD from this likely has played a role in some of his other charges as well as the addiction. And so we’re really looking forward to this long stretch of assisted treatment and then getting out and looking at plans on how to be able to improve his life.”

Holmes was sentenced to 23 months in prison and three years of post-prison supervision. For a charge of theft in the first degree that occurred several months after the incident, he received a jail sentence of 180 days, concurrent to his sentence for criminally negligent manslaughter.

His driving license was also permanently revoked, though Holmes will be able to reappear in court in 10 years to explore the possibility of reinstatement.

Judge Kirk Wintermute described the situation as one with “no winners, only losers.”

“Being on your phone or playing with the radio or messing around or just not paying attention and driving in a reckless manner has real consequences,” he told Holmes. “And you’re finding that out pretty quickly here, you found that out already.

“But I hope you can come out of this, you know, in a better place, and I hope that the family can as well.”