Articles Posted in Odd Cases

So is a 19th century mummified Maori head art or not? A museum in Rouen, France tried to return a Maori head to New Zealand. Guess who stopped them? The French Ministry of Culture! Who are you with? I’m with the Rouen officials who said, as reported in the International Herald Tribune, that:

…the Maori head is a body part, not a work of art, and that according to France’s bioethics law it must be returned to its place of origin. “This object reflects the barbaric trafficking in body parts, the belief that another race was inferior to ours,” said Catherine Morin-Desailly, the deputy mayor for culture and a senator, who proposed the return of the head. “It belongs to the heritage of humanity, not in storage somewhere in a museum.”

The matter is still pending.

Why not? Because she put them there! She reported that someone had drawn a swastika on her door FIVE times in one week. Before she was busted, what did the 18-year-old George Washington University freshman have to say about the incidents? As reported on NBC4.com:

[She] called it a bad joke gone too far. She said she is not scared, but after five incidents in a week, she said she wants it to stop.

The victim said she has only been on campus since August but has already developed a close-knit group of friends who have helped her through this.

And how was she caught? GWU police installed a hidden camera. The young woman then confessed. She’s facing disciplinary and criminal charges. You can read more here and here.

These are 2 stone-cold dudes. Back in April 2004, Michael Lee Davis held a 17-year-old dog named Gizmo – like a football – and Chad Crawford kicked him. Gizmo died.

Crawford just went on trial. Do you think he was convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor? A misdemeanor! The crime he was convicted of – aggravated cruelty to an animal – is now a felony, but it wasn’t in 2004. Incredibly, on the charge of intentionally killing an animal (a felony), the jury was deadlocked! Crawford will be sentenced on November 30th. Davis will be tried at a later date. For a story about a stone-cold British cat-kicker, click here.

Tru Dat. And exactly how did New York firefighters Michael Izzo and Richard Capece get caught setting a firehouse door on fire by pouring gasoline on it? By a surveillance camera! Either one of them is really stupid (the one who used to work at that firehouse!), or the surveillance camera was recently installed. Both men were charged with arson, and suspended without pay.

Maybe Christen Comer’s lawyer read my prior post about the successful use of the “sleepwalking” defense by a killer. As reported in The Hamilton Journal-News:

[The victim, Chelsea] Rose testified she and Comer met at Hill Station Bar in the early morning hours of July 7, 2006. They went to Comer’s apartment where they watched movies, read poetry and continued to drink until they fell asleep about 1 p.m.

Rose testified that when she woke up, Comer was on top of her growling like an animal and choking her. She said she struggled and gouged his eye, and Comer began biting her.

So Matt McChesney, a School Resource officer at a middle school in Mesa County Colorado, is just strolling the hall in his body armor. His WHAT? The school resource officer needs body armor? This is my first question at back-to-school night.

Anyway, at least one eighth-grade boy knows where the body armor stops, and the body begins. We know this because the kid stopped in front of McChesney, and drilled him – real hard – right below the armor-line. Said Mr. McChesney in his report:

This was not an accidental bump in the hallway. This deliberate punch was delivered with considerable force which knocked the breath out of my lungs.

Shazam! What happened to the little miscreant? He was arrested, and sent home with mommy. He will likely be charged with second-degree assault on a peace officer.

(McChesney has since upgraded his body armor from the suit pictured above [Type II], to the suit pictured below. It’s go time, punk.)

Fifty-year old Jim Nelson had been living in a tent outside a ski resort in British Columbia. After fasting for 60 days to attain spiritual perfection, he bagged it, and went into town. When he reached an upscale home, he threw a rock through the window and made himself at home. In Court, here’s what Mr. Nelson admitted to (in addition to breaking into the house):

He opened the presents looking for chocolates, raided the fridge and cupboards searching for delicacies, pigged out on cups of tea, chili, cream cheese and tortillas. He then puked and defecated in plastic bags before slipping into a stupor and curling up on the floor.

So, guilty right? Wrong! Judge Moss acquitted Mr. Nelson, whose defense was “necessity.” Said the judge:

Your actions were disgusting and foul, certainly so far as the homeowner is concerned. But that kind of action in and of itself presents to me clear evidence that your mind was extremely troubled and that you should not be found guilty.

Really! For god’s sake, Jim, at least you could have used the toilet! The B.C. government, following in the footsteps of John “Bluto” Blutarsky, declared “Nothing is over until we decide it is.” Actually, they just appealed and … won. A new trial has been ordered. For more on Mr. Nelson, click here.

His name: Robert Brett-Deans. But, when asked by the judge to confirm his name, Brett-Deans replied:

Hang on, I have had a name change. I said this the last time we was here. For future reference, I have changed my name to The Jason.

What did The Jason do? He’s been charged with one count of conspiring to commit false imprisonment and two counts of possessing the proceeds of crime. Although The Jason has no fixed address, police found £500,000 ($1,000,000 US) in cash, along with sledgehammers, balaclavas, superglue, rope and batteries. And where did the money come from? Wizardry, probably. Here’s what The Jason told the Court:

I’m serious about everything I do. I am also a wizard of the Round Table and I am a master manipulator. In other words, I can do magic.

There will be no white flag going up on my ship and I will also help you all so I can put your minds at rest. I’m not playing games with you all. I do not play games.

In mythical terms, be careful in everything that you might do because you might just find yourselves opening Pandora’s box and, as you might know, the only thing left in the box was hope.

To the police detectives, The Jason said “I wish you good luck because you will need it.” So is he fit to stand trial? Yes, according to a psychiatric report. Is he a wizard? If so, he’s not a very good one, since he was returned to jail pending his trial.

What? You’ve never heard of “kick the kitty?” Perhaps that’s because it was only recently invented by Nicola Collinson. To see how it’s played, though, you’ll need her cell phone because she made a video of herself doing it on her phone! Or, perhaps you know one of the people she sent her video to, one of whom sent it to the RSPCA.

What was in the video? Just Nicole picking up a kitten, throwing it into the air like a ball, and then drop-kicking it. And if that’s not bad enough, she chased it down and punched it, and drop-kicked it again! Can you can guess her defense? She said she was drunk (I believe that) and doesn’t remember anything (bullshit). Here’s how the prosecutor described it:

This is what can only be described as a quite wicked case. It was only a kitten and it came (to her) looking for affection. It was suggested that at some stage it might have scratched (her) and that all this happened is really quite shocking.

This defendant took hold of the kitten and drop-kicked it, as if it were a rugby ball. The kitten got to it’s feet and went away and it was chased by the defendant who picked it up again and brought it back and did the same thing again. Not only was it drop-kicked but it was also punched.

It was absolutely deliberate, there can be no suggestion it was accidental. And what makes this all the worse is that someone was making a video on a phone camera. You hear laughing and joking.

The video was then sent round to various friends bragging about what happened. But one person was so incensed that they sent a copy to the RSPCA who were able to track who made it.

Ms. Collinson pleaded guilty, and is awaiting sentencing. She almost ended up in the clink pending sentencing. Here’s what the judge said:

Having looked at that video of what you did we seriously considered custody. It is appalling that any human can do such a thing to another animal. It is unthinkable and no excuses can be accepted. But we are going to ask for reports in the community band [? no clue]. We feel you are desperately in need of help.

You can read more here.

I think it’s safe to say that Ilinois Junior High School Special Education Teacher Patrick E. McCarthy won’t be teaching again for quite some time, if ever. As reported in the Daily Herald, here’s what he’s been up to just this school year:

In one incident, McCarthy threw cookies and called a 12-year-old an obscenity after the student took a treat without asking, [Assistant State’s Attorney] Palac told Cook County Judge Kay Marie Hanlon.

In another instance, Palac said, McCarthy became agitated with a non-verbal 12-year-old and shoved him face-first into a metal cabinet.

Another time, she said, he made a child put on a weighted vest and jump for 40 minutes straight on a trampoline, forcing him to keep going even when he began crying. The boy had bruises on his legs afterward, Palac said. His parents told police he later had a seizure.

McCarthy also tied a student to his chair with a jump rope, Palac said. The child was able to wriggle free, but McCarthy later got behind him, crisscrossed his arms, squeezed his cheeks and shoved his body against a wall, pressing his own body up against him, Palac said.

Damn! Must have had a really bad summer. So what happened to Mr. McCarthy? Aside from being placed on administrative leave, he was charged with 3 counts of aggravated battery and 1 count of unlawful restraint. To read more, click here.