The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Judge reserves decision on bail for Marriott
A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has finished hearing evidence and submissions at a bail hearing for a member of a notorious Halifax crime family.
Brian James (B.J.) Marriott, 37, was among 15 men charged after an inmate at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth was attacked last Dec. 2.
Stephen Anderson was assaulted shortly after he arrived at the jail. Some men went into his cell to carry out the attack while others formed a human wall to keep correctional officers away.
Anderson was transported to hospital with injuries described by police as lifethreatening, but he made a full recovery.
The men all face charges of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, forcible confinement, aggravated assault, assault with weapon and obstructing correctional officers. One of the accused also faces a charge of assaulting a correctional officer.
A preliminary inquiry is set for January 2021 in Dartmouth
provincial court.
Marriott moved to Stlaurent, Que., after he was released from the Atlantic
Institution in Renous, N.B., in October 2018.
His bail hearing got underway May 5 in Supreme Court in Halifax and continued Tuesday.
“There is absolutely no way that I can provide you with a decision today,” Justice Denise Boudreau said at the end of the day. “There is much to go through ... and I need to think about it all before I give you a decision.”
Boudreau will deliver her decision May 19.
A publication ban on the details of the hearing will also apply to the reasons for the judge’s decision.
The hearing is being conducted virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Boudreau and defence lawyer Stan Macdonald were in the courtroom Tuesday, while Marriott appeared by video from jail and Crown attorneys Rick Woodburn and Scott Morrison joined via Skype.
The judge thanked everyone for their co-operation.
“There are some challenges to doing hearings this way, and there were challenges for all of us,” Boudreau said. “Thankfully, it worked reasonably well. I attribute that to the patience and assistance of counsel.”