| Florida: A burglary defendant claimed
in court that he was driven to crime by cotton candy. According to Wesley
Shaffeer's lawyer, Shaffer had eaten one and a half bags of cotton candy
the night before breaking into a house in Boca Raton - and this had driven
him legally insane. "His blood sugar was so high he shouldn't be held
responsible," the lawyer argued. However prosecutors pointed out that Shaffer
had confessed to 600 similar break-ins in the 1970s and had been sentenced
to 10 years in jail for it, so the "cotton candy" defence shouldn't be
allowed.
New Jersey: Bank robber Crawford Brownlee
held up a bank in Trenton, New Jersey. He then interrupted his getaway to
stop at Mama's Chicken a few blocks away and order the special - a bag of
34 wings for $5.75 to go. Police caught him a few moments after he left the
store with his order. Nonetheless, Mama's co-owner Judy Elborra said she
was flattered that the bank robber had stopped by. "With all that money he
could've eaten anywhere," she told reporters.
Netherlands: A Dutch woman became so enraged
with her husband's off-key carol singing that she stabbed him in the chest.
Police say the 55-year-old woman told them she'd put up with her husband
singing "Silent Night" for several hours before she lost her temper. "His
singing is just awful," she said. The husband recovered.
New York: An alleged mugger who was recently
arrested in New York for bailing up a 94-year-old woman may find that a spell
in prison is the least of his problems. It turned out that his victim is
the mother of Vincent "The Chin" Gigante - a reputed Mafia
boss.
New Mexico: Police in the Roswell area are
looking for a man who robbed a liquor store while wearing a bag over his
head. Despite the disguise, police have a good description of the man: the
bag was made of clear plastic.
Michigan: Police in Lansing nabbed a real-life
Hamburglar when they raided the home of a McDonald's maintenance worker and
found $14,000 worth of supplies in a room in the man's house. "He had just
about everything in there except the Golden Arches," police said. The court
sent the man to McJail.
Winnipeg: Two thieves who held up a 7-11
convenience store were caught when they failed to adequately cover their
tracks. Police say that two men in their early 20s, wearing ski masks and
armed with a shotgun and a knife, held up the store early on a Sunday morning
and made off with cash and cigarettes. They were caught when police followed
their footprints in the fresh snow for seven blocks to their house, where
they were arrested. |
