No pleas yet from difficult defendant
Court hears Joshua Daniel Grant Burden, 48, of Fredericton, was unco-operative with corrections officials with regard to Monday telephone appearance for scheduled pleas
The prosecutor was ready. Defence counsel was appointed and present. And an out-of-province judge was on the line.
Missing, though, was a defendant, as an unco-operative detainee reportedly refused to appear by telephone to enter pleas to numerous charges Monday.
Joshua Daniel Grant Burden, 48, of no fixed address, was scheduled to appear in Fredericton provincial court remotely Monday from the jail where he’s being detained.
Edward Derrah, a New Brunswick Legal Aid lawyer, was on hand, having been appointed to represent Burden on Monday so the defendant could enter his pleas.
Presiding over court for Burden’s case was Judge Diane McGrath, a Nova Scotia provincial court judge who’d been tasked to handle the matter because among the allegations against Burden was a threat against a New Brunswick judge.
However, things didn’t proceed as planned, as Crown prosecutor Christopher Lavigne said court staff informed him jail staff were having trouble arranging the telephone appearance.
“I don’t believe Mr. Burden is co-operating with the telephone right now,” he said.
Derrah said he hadn’t had contact with the defendant.
“I do not have any instructions from him, your honour,” he said.
The defence lawyer suggested the pleas be adjourned for a short time so Burden can be transported to the Justice Building in Fredericton.
McGrath agreed, though she noted that if Burden continues to prove difficult, the court would have no choice but to enter not-guilty pleas on Burden’s behalf and schedule a trial.
The judge set the matter over to Sept. 25 for pleas, noting she’d appear in court by video-conference to facilitate the proceedings.
Burden was previously remanded pending the outcome of the charges against him after two bail hearings.
He faces the following charges:
break and enter into City Auto on Main Street, and theft of a vehicle belonging to Nicolas McPhee on April 19;
a June 6 sexual assault on a woman whose identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban;
threats to Eric Lanteigne and Terri-Lynn Stewart, and a violation of a no-contact order with the sex-assault complainant June 7;
a threat to Judge Scott Brittain, and an attempt at intimidation of the judge as a justice-system participant June 19;
and several alleged breaches of probation.
Burden has disrupted just about every court proceeding in the case since his arrest in June, prompting numerous delays and the assignment of his case to outside judges.
He was brought to court in person last month in an effort to get through his bail hearing, but he started yelling and cursing at the judge and others, leading to his removal from the courtroom.
During video-conference and telephone appearances, he’s hung up and refused to participate, and on other occasions, the court has cut off his audio given his outbursts.
Throughout many of his volatile court appearances, Burden has professed his innocence, though he has admitted to threatening Brittain, though he also retracted that admission.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.