“I’m not a criminal, but I’m pleading guilty,” Justin Jordan told a provincial court judge in St. John’s Monday morning. “I’m not guilty, but I’m not taking this to trial, it’s a waste of time.”
Jordan appeared before Judge David Orr on charges of stabbing fellow inmate Trent Butt in jail last year, along with a raft of other charges: assault with a weapon, assault, false alarm of fire and multiple court order breaches, along with a new charge of assaulting a correctional officer.
Before proceedings could begin, Jordan told the court he was representing himself, and no longer needed defence lawyer Michael Ralph.
Ralph then officially withdrew from the case, citing a breakdown in the client-solicitor relationship.
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‘Hands in the air for baby Quinn,’ Justin Jordan says to reporters
“I’m not a criminal, but I’m pleading guilty because I want to get out of this province. My province is garbage,” Jordan told Orr.
“Well, I can’t accept a guilty plea on those grounds,” Orr replied.
“Why, because you said so?” Jordan responded.
“That’s right,” Orr said.
Jordan continued to speak throughout the proceeding, swearing, speaking of being manipulated by correctional officers and challenging Orr.
“How do you feel about Ashley Smith, the girl who lost her life in custody? Got anything to say about that, your honour?” Jordan asked Orr, referring to an Ontario teenager who died by suicide while in custody in that province 11 years ago.
At one point, Jordan turned to the sheriff’s officer standing next to him. “F--- your family,” he told him. “Murder me.”
Crown prosecutor Jason House told Orr he was ready to proceed, but had concerns about Jordan’s mental fitness, saying he appeared to be “different and a little more scattered than during previous proceedings.”
Orr ordered Jordan to undergo a psychiatric assessment overnight and appear in court again Tuesday morning.
Jordan had originally been charged with attempting to murder Butt — who is in custody awaiting trial for the first-degree murder of his five-year-old daughter, Quinn — but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of aggravated assault, and the attempted murder charge was conditionally withdrawn by the Crown.
Jordan reportedly stabbed Butt June 8 during recreation period at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary. Butt was not seriously injured.
“Put your hands in the air for Baby Quinn,” Jordan told members of the media at his first court appearance on that matter.
Jordan has a lengthy criminal record, including convictions for assault with a weapon, break and enter, and robbery. He was sentenced to six months in custody last spring for stabbing a man in St. John’s.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
