December 18, 2002
TIME TO GET MEDIEVAL:
Retrial for Thatcher decapitator (The Associated Press, December 18, 2002)A MAN who decapitated a statue of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher as a political protest is to be retried, after a jury failed to reach a verdict today. Peter Kelleher, 37, was arrested in July after whacking the 2.4-metre marble statue with a cricket bat, then knocking off its head with a heavy metal pole.He admitted attacking the STG150,000 ($A422,535) statue, but said it was a political act, not a crime. He denied a charge of criminal damage.
After almost four hours of deliberations today, the jury at Southwark Crown Court in London was unable to reach a verdict and was discharged by Judge Richard Aikens.
The judge told Kelleher, from west London, that his new trial would begin on January 22.
The only just penalty for this guy is to leave him to the tender mercies of Marsellus Wallace. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 18, 2002 9:05 AM
Comments
Whoah, there. I mean, have we abandoned all sense of human decency?
Posted by: Christopher Badeaux at December 18, 2002 10:19 AMA populace that produces juries unable to come to a verdict on a case this clear is undeserving of the right to trial by a jury of one's peers.
Posted by: jason johnson at December 18, 2002 11:53 AM