In bizarre hearing, woman accused in foster mother shooting denied bond

'You seem to be very aggravating,' Johnson tells judge before getting cut off

MIAMI – A Miami-Dade County judge ordered a woman who is accused of shooting her children's foster mother to be held without bond Sunday during a bizarre hearing in which the woman alternated between slumping in a wheelchair and berating the judge before her microphone was cut off. 

For most of the hearing, Candi Johnson sat lifeless and hunched over in her wheelchair, but after a few minutes suddenly she jerked into attention.

"You seem to be very aggravating ... ," Candi Johnson said before her microphone was cut by her public defender.

In the courtroom video, Johnson continued to soundlessly shout obscenities at the judge.

“I’m glad you’re looking up and addressing the court,” Judge Samantha Ruiz Cohen replied.

Johnson, 34, lost custody of her two children after she was charged with child neglect in April.

Seen smiling in her mug shot, Johnson faces a number of charges, including attempted murder, conspiracy to kidnap and armed burglary.

Police said Johnson and a man, who is still at large, ambushed a 77-year-old woman at a home on Jackson Street in southwest Miami-Dade County around 5 a.m. Friday.

Police said Johnson and her accomplice demanded Johnson’s two children, a 5-year-old girl and 2-year-old boy, be returned to them, but the foster mother refused to give them up.

A struggle ensued and police said the foster mother was shot multiple times.

After the shooting, police said Johnson took the kids back to her home on Northwest 87th Street, where she was arrested.

The wounded foster mother was taken to Jackson South Medical Center, where she was listed in stable condition.

The children were found unharmed and are now in the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families.

On Sunday, Cohen ordered Johnson to have no contact with the foster mother and her two children, including phone calls and letters. Johnson was originally set to appear in court on Saturday, but she refused.

Earlier in the hearing, Cohen was confused as to why Johnson was in a wheelchair and refused to look up. 

“Corrections, do you have any indication that she’s medicated?” Cohen asked a crowd of officers around Johnson's wheelchair.

“No,” one them replied.

“She’s not? So she’s just looking down because she wants to?” Cohen said, looking perplexed.

“She’s just refusing communication at this time,” another corrections officer replied.