Clashes with court continue in arson case
Judge mutes volatile defendant Joshua Daniel Grant Burden, 49, of no fixed address, tells him she’ll keep delaying his bail hearing if he doesn’t desist with his profanity-laden rants
A lot of garbage came out of an arson suspect’s mouth during a brief court proceeding Thursday, and his junk made an appearance as well.
Joshua Daniel Grant Burden, 49, of no fixed address, appeared in Fredericton provincial court Thursday afternoon for what was supposed to be the continuation of his bail hearing, but his explosive and profane behaviour delayed the proceeding again.
The defendant is accused of counts of arson and breach of probation, stemming from a fire the night of Oct. 29 that caused extensive damage to MacTavish’s Source of Sports on Queen Street.
Burden’s bail hearing got underway Monday, and he insisted on representing himself, claiming duty counsel from Legal Aid New Brunswick could do nothing to help him.
The court got through the Crown’s evidence Monday, which consisted of the submission of a bail brief from the Fredericton Police Force and Burden’s argumentative cross-examination of a detective.
There’s a court-ordered publication ban in effect on any evidence presented at the hearing until the case against Burden concludes.
The court ran out of time Monday to complete the hearing, and Burden was growing more argumentative and combative with the court, to the point that Judge Karen Lee asked court staff to mute his microphone as he appeared remotely from the Saint John Regional Correctional Centre.