I acted as court reporter today, and sat through five-plus hours of testimony in regards to a man who, long, long ago, killed his sister. Of course, he was found not guilty of first-degree murder by means of mental defect and sent to a mental institute, but the man still seems to be weaving through the legal system for one reason or another.

This time it was loosely related to his daydreams about satanic rituals and the rape of babies, killing of dogs, etc.

Pretty.

As I wrapped up the story, my editor popped over to my desk to discuss the case. "Ah," he says, "I bet you didn't have people like this at your last newspaper."

"Maybe not," I told him, "but there was the guy who killed his girlfriend, tried to chop her up and then burn the apartment down."

So I guess the moral of the story is, every town has one. Or four.

krittabug