Disruptive defendant chills out
Joshua Daniel Grant Burden, 48, of Fredericton, was uncharacteristically calm Monday for latest court appearance on various charges including break-in, sexual assault
Joshua Daniel Grant Burden had a brief but banner court appearance in Fredericton on Monday, with no outbursts, no threats and no forcible removal from the proceedings.
Burden, 48, of no fixed address, appeared in Fredericton provincial court in person and in custody Monday to answer to several charges alleged to have occurred earlier this year.
He’s accused of breaking into City Auto on Main Street and stealing a vehicle belonging to Nicolas McPhee on April 19; sexually assaulting a female complainant June 6; and uttering threats to cause death and/or bodily harm to Eric Lanteigne and Terri-Lynn Stewart, and breaching an undertaking to have no contact with the sexual assault complainant June 7.
Burden is also charged with several related counts of breach of probation.
The identity of the complainant in the sex-assault case is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
Monday’s proceedings were marked by a new defence lawyer - Joshua Adams - taking carriage of Burden’s files.
“I do not yet have disclosure. It has been requested,” he said.
Burden has a history of ranting and cursing during court appearances, and his behaviour has prompted numerous delays in his cases.
However, he was far calmer Monday, though he still complained about his treatment in jail and in the courts.
“Your honour, I was shanked in the county,” he told Judge Natalie LeBlanc on Monday, referring to the Saint John Regional Correctional Centre, which many refer to as the county jail.
He’d reported during earlier court appearances that he’d been stabbed, but it wasn’t clear Monday if he was referring to the same alleged incident or something new.
The defendant has complained repeatedly during previous court appearances that he feels his life is in danger as long as he’s on remand, but he’s been denied bail twice since his arrest in early June.
Burden said Monday jail staff told him to bring up his safety concerns in court, but LeBlanc said she doesn’t have the authority to give directives to correctional officials.
“I can’t do anything about what happened in jail,” she told the defendant.
The judge told him the best way for his concerns to be addressed is to give his new lawyer time to obtain and review the Crown files against him with him.
LeBlanc adjourned Burden’s pleas on the April 19, June 6 and June 7 charges to Nov. 2.
Burden faces another pair of charges related to his unruly courtroom behaviour from this summer as well, but they weren’t before the court Monday.
He’s charged with uttering threats and intimidating a justice-system participant June 19, but since the complainant in those counts is Fredericton provincial court Judge Scott Brittain, a Nova Scotia judge has been tasked to preside over those counts to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
During a June 19 court appearance before Brittain, Burden - who was insisting on being released from custody on conditions, told him, “If you keep fucking with me, you should be worried about what I’m going to do to you.”
Upon learning Brittain wouldn’t be granting his release that day, he yelled, “I’ll meet you in the parking lot at the courthouse and punch your fucking face off!”
Burden has also cursed out and refused to co-operate with Judge Diane McGrath, the Sydney-based judge who has presided over proceedings related to the June 19 charges.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
Xmas is coming lol