A Regina man on trial for murder who's defending himself in court is no longer participating in the trial – at least in person.
Quinton Bitternose is accused of first-degree murder for the November 2004 killing of Wayne Friday.
His trial, before Justice Ted Malone and a 12-person jury, began on Monday.
Earlier in the trial, a Crown witness said he saw Friday suffer a 15-minute beating at the hands of four people, with Bitternose overseeing the assault as he held a sawed-off rifle.
Bitternose has been taking some notes and occasionally asking witnesses a few questions.
However, on Thursday afternoon, after a break in testimony, the jury was told that Bitternose will not be back in the courtroom.
The judge told the jurors that during the break, Bitternose had been asked to sit down twice. He refused, so the judge had him escorted out.
The judge told the jury that Bitternose was "happy" to leave.
After that, a closed-circuit television system was brought into the courtroom. The judge told the jury that Bitternose can watch a video transmission of the proceedings in a separate room and still ask questions if he wants.
When the next witness was ready for defence questions, the judge asked a guard to ask if Bitternose had any.
The guard spoke into his communication system and reported that Bitternose "doesn't want to ask anybody any questions."
Later, when the same routine was repeated for another witness, the guard reported that Bitternose refused to answer at all.
The Crown still has 12 witnesses to go before the defence gets to present its case.