He’s the man police have tried to tie to the death of original Disney Mousketeer Dennis Day.
But Burda’s court appearance today was on a different matter.
Daniel Burda pleaded guilty to a first degree criminal mischief charge.
Burda was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and a 20 day jail sentence.
The Jackson County District Attorney’s Office said Burda removed his GPS monitor and threw it into Bear Creek back in 2021.
Meanwhile, Burda is set to go to trial in January of next year, for his alleged involvement in the death of Dennis Day.
The criminal case stalled when much of the evidence in the case was deemed inadmissible.
Last fall, prosecutors told us they have recovered most of it through appeal.
“The evidence that was suppressed by the court, the majority of it we got back through this opinion.” Deputy District Attorney Virginia Greer said in September of 2022, “that dealt with the issues that we had appealed and we are waiting for that process to end before we have jurisdiction again in the case.”
Prosecutors said Burda, who was living with the Phoenix man at the time he went missing, shoved the elderly man to the ground in 2018 and let him die by not taking actions to prevent it.
He’s pleaded not guilty.
Dennis Day’s badly decomposed body was found by police in his own home months after he was reported missing.
As they await the result of the criminal process, Day’s family has filed a $2.2 million civil suit against Phoenix Police and Lieutenant Jeffrey Price.
That lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial this year.
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