Articles Posted in Odd Cases

An English teacher (a teacher in England, that is) was fired, she claimed, because she is a Wiccan (a self-described “white witch”). But her boss says it was because of her poor attendance record. The teacher, Ms. De La Rosa, was hired to cover for sick teachers. Only one problem – she was off 21.5 days during her first 6 months on the job. And according to her boss, her attendance rate was 20%, equivalent to working one day a week during the school year. Her boss also said she had to bring in someone to cover for the coverer!

What do you think the unemployment tribunal decided? We’ll never know, because the matter was settled after the hearing. You can read more, including Ms. De La Rosa’s side of the story, here.

This is the case of an unbelievable prick, and an incredibly vulnerable, naive victim. Scotland resident John Irvine, a 63-year-old married man, is a retired car mechanic. He managed to convince a 38-year-old Portuguese woman, through 50 e-mails that he translated into Portuguese on the internet, that he was an agent for the English Secret Police. He then convinced her that her family in Portugal would be killed if she didn’t follow the orders in the e-mails – to engage in sex acts with Irvine. He also told her, through the e-mails, that she would be killed if she tried to leave Scotland.

She considered suicide, but instead went to the police, who charged Irvine with multiple counts of rape. His defense? It was a game, and she knew it. Irvine pleaded guilty to repeated indecent assault. He will be sentenced next month.

Yes, I’m afraid it’s true, much to the dismay of British Royal Navy Chaplain Mark Sharpe. So horrified was the chaplain by the “offensive and illegal” porn DVDs he says were shown on the ship, and all that sex talk, that he left the ship just 2 weeks into his training course. (continued below) He didn’t go quietly though. He claimed that he had to leave the navy due to sexual harassment and religious discrimination. And he wanted money. And he got it! The Royal Navy settled with him, and admitted that Mr. Sharpe was exposed to a degree of sexual harassment. You can read more here.

Yup. As Miami Herald reporter Fred Grimm so artfully described it:

Jenne, as sheriff and chief jailer in Broward County, has launched a crackdown on self-abusing miscreants. It’s no longer enough to warn hairy-palmed drooling deviants that self-indulgence risks stunted growth, blindness, sallow skin, slackened jaws, amnesia, shrunken testicles, impotence and, for Catholics in particular, eternal damnation. Jenne wants jail time.

So, Terry Alexander, who is serving a 10-year sentence for robbery, was charged with masturbating in his cell. The case was tried, before a jury, who convicted him. Alexander got 60 days tacked on to his time. What a brilliant use of resources. If Sheriff Jenne keeps this up there won’t be any revolving door, because nobody will ever get out!

Canadian Arnold Sanderson worked at a dairy plant for 12 years, and left the job 20 years ago. Ever since, he has held a grudge against several former co-workers, who he accused of tormenting him and “teasing, pranks, that sort of thing.” Sanderson became so obsessed with his former co-workers, especially Shawn Smith, that he never recovered. Since leaving the dairy, he has not had a full-time job.

In a nod to the more than 200 million guns in the U.S., ten years after he left the dairy, Sanderson said “if I lived in the States, I would be up for murder.” Well, the NRA (“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”) must just love this case.

Last year, Sanderson was taking his dog to the veterinarian when he happened to see Smith out jogging. Sanderson crossed into oncoming traffic, drove up on the sidewalk, and struck and killed Smith.

Truth. The Atwoods owned their Louisiana home outright since 1968. It was tax exempt, but that changed. Only problem is, the couple’s address changed when a 911 system was put in place. So the $1.63 tax bill sent to them in 1996 was returned to the Sheriff’s Office, which put the house up for auction at a tax sale, and sold it for $1.63, plus 10 cents interest, and $125 in court costs. All this, despite the fact that the Atwoods are right there in the phone book!

This all happens without the Atwoods even knowing about it! They had a $90,000 offer for the house in 2002, but couldn’t sell it because of litigation surrounding the tax sale. (The Atwoods are trying to get it nullified.) Then Katrina hit, causing serious damage to the house. Well, the Atwoods won at the trial level, and on appeal, but the case is being appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Ms. Atwood lives in a FEMA trailer in front of the house, while her 71-year-old husband, who is on a respirator, lives with relatives. They didn’t have insurance, and don’t qualify for programs to fix the house because they don’t have clear title. $1.63!!! If you want to read more, click here.

I read this story and thought, hmmm, this sounds familiar. In a nutshell, 25-year-old Illinois resident Louis Peacock told his 69-year-old dad he was possessed by demons, and that he wanted his dad to kill him, and then cut off his head! So Louis took the pills, and when dad couldn’t find a bat, he conked Louis on the head with a crow bar. This woke Louis up! He then told dad to leave. Dad did – and went to the police. Louis lived, denied that the whole thing ever happened (“A” for loyalty, anyway), and wouldn’t allow photographs of his injuries to be taken.

Meanwhile, dad plead guilty to aggravated battery, with a 30-day jail sentence, 30 months conditional release, and court costs. Not so fast, said Judge James Stewart, to dad’s lawyer:

This kind of behavior is so bizarre. Your client is nuts and needs a mental health evaluation.

Judge Stewart refused to accept the plea, pending the results of a mental evaluation. You can read more about this here.

From the case of Salinero v. Pon, 124 Cal.App.3d 120, 177 Cal. Rptr. 204 (1981):

The owner of a six-story apartment building hired an independent contractor, the plaintiff’s employer, to wash the windows of the building. No safety devices – from which window washers could be suspended – had been installed on the building. So the owner and the contractor agreed that the windows would be washed by means of a ladder extended over the edge of the roof from which the workers would be suspended in a boatswain’s chair secured to the roof by a weighted sand bag. Brilliant! While the plaintiff was suspended in the chair some 35-40 feet above the ground, a fellow worker mistakenly removed the sand bag anchoring the plaintiff’s chair, causing him to fall and suffer injury.

[13 pages!] Spoiler alert – Salinero, the falling guy … [see below]

lost!

For real. MCA Records put out a song called “Barbie Girl.”(If you haven’t heard the song, lucky you. Not only does it SUCK, it becomes stuck in your head.) Anyway, it doesnt’ paint poor little Barbie in the best light, so Mattel sued MCA for using Barbie’s name without permission. MCA then agreed to place the following language on the album: the song is “social commentary and not created or approved by the makers of the doll.”

MCA’s response: fuhgeddaboutit. “It’s akin to a bank robber handing a note of apology to a teller during a heist. It neither diminshes the severity of the crime nor does it make it legal.” MCA’s response? Not pleased with Matell’s use of the words “bank robber,” “heist,” “crime,” or “theft,” they countersued for defamation!

The Judge ultimately found for MCA Records, and offered this little nugget: “The parties are advised to chill.” The case is Mattel v. MCA Records, 296 F.3d 894 (9th Cir. 2002).

If he wanted to kill himself before, just imagine how he must feel now. Joe Clapper of Lincoln, Nebraska shot himself in the head, with his girlfriend in the room. He must have wanted to send her some kind of message, doing it with her right there in the room. Well he did, with a bullet. When Mr. Clapper shot himself in the head, the bullet ricocheted off his skull and hit his girlfriend in the chest!

Mr. Clapper pleaded guilty to assault, and was sentenced to one year in jail. The Judge also ordered him to pay $18,862.72 in restitution for his girlfriend’s medical bills. Clapper’s lawyer argued that, because of a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case, the amount of the award had to be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Clapper won! at the appellate level. The Nebraska Supreme court said otherwise, ruling 6-1 that a criminal defendant has no right to a jury trial on the amount of restitution.