»In which violent crime receives a reward

An Associated Press story relates how a basketball-obsessed would-be murderer received a numerologically-significant sentence just by asking.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A man got a prison term longer than prosecutors and defense attorneys had agreed to 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.

"I've never seen anything like this in 26 years in the courthouse. But, I know the DA is happy about it."

The approximate annual, amortised cost of housing a prisoner amounts to about $35,000, which means that this filip of judicial imagination will cost the ratepayers another hundred large. Usually sentencing guidelines mean that murderers behind the wheel of an automobile receive light or no jail time for wilfully navigating into a cyclist or pedestrian.