Story Archive

How Do You Plead?

Brunswick, Ga., Magistrate Court clerk Luetrice Lott has seen a lot of wacky things in court in her 26 years, but she wasn’t prepared for a someone in an upcoming case stepping up before Chief Magistrate Timothy Barton to plead not guilty. The woman had completely disrobed before going before the judge. “She wasn’t wearing so much as shoes,” Barton said. The judge took it in stride: “Please enter a plea of not guilty for that lady,” Barton told Lott. But there was no form to enter a plea, since the woman had not been charged with any crime — until, that is, the bailiff took her into custody for indecent exposure. The woman wasn’t identified “because she is now a patient in a mental facility.” (RC/Florida Times-Union) ...No shirt, no shoes, no justice.