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October 20, 2005
Bird-brained sentencing
A kind reader alerted me to this notable sentencing tale emerging from Oklahoma:
A man got a prison term longer than prosecutors and defense attorneys had agreed to — all because of Larry Bird. The lawyers reached a plea agreement Tuesday for a 30-year term for a man accused of shooting with an intent to kill and robbery. But Eric James Torpy wanted his prison term to match Bird's jersey number 33.
"He said if he was going to go down, he was going to go down in Larry Bird's jersey," Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott said Wednesday. "We accommodated his request and he was just as happy as he could be."
NBA fans will appreciate the accompanying commentary from the basketball guru who sent me this item: "Bad lawyering by the defense, if you ask me — I would've asked the sentencing judge to honor Robert Parish, or at least Dennis Johnson...."
October 20, 2005 at 11:47 PM | Permalink
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