Nov 12, 2009 10:12 PM
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Wed Feb 10
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Looks like Letterman's blackmailer has set a ridiculous precedent for criminals: Claim that the evidence against you is nothing but a work of art! This guy's attorneys say his very threatening and unlyrical note was actually "rap lyrics".
Olutosin Oduwole is accused of threatening to cause a "Virginia Tech-like shooting rampage" after authorities found a note in his car that threatened a Virginia Tech-like shooting rampage. Writes the AP:
The key piece of evidence in the case against Olutosin Oduwole is a note found more than two years ago in his disabled car demanding payment to a PayPal account, threatening "if this account doesn't reach $50,000 in the next 7 days then a murderous rampage similar to the VT shooting will occur at another highly populated university. THIS IS NOT A JOKE!"
I especially like the "THIS IS NOT A JOKE!" at the end. You can just imagine the defense attorney talking to young Oduwole on the phone after his arrest: "OK, so, we can beat this thing. Here's how: We'll just pretend this whole thing was a hilarious prank! Wait... YOU WROTE WHAT AT THE END OF YOUR NOTE!?"
That would be a funny thing for the defense attorney to do. But you know what's even funnier? What the defense attorney actually did: He decided to try to defend the note as "rap lyrics"
In a brief, Urdangen argued that "homicidal, first-person narratives are found in rock music and reggae, as well as other genres." He continued, "The commonality of such statements across music genres suggests that no reasonable member of our society would interpret the lyrics written by Mr. Oduwole as an expression of intent to inflict death or serious bodily harm."
Anyway, the note was found in Oduwole's own car and had been shared with no one and, really, was probably just some weird, angsty thing he scribbled down because he was in a bad mood about a girl or something. But rap lyrics!?
(photo courtesy of DigitalParadox's Flickr)
Send an email to Adrian Chen, the author of this post, at adrian@gawker.com.
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