Well, this is one way to get your client out of paying some serious d’oh! British publication The Times is reporting that a lawyer tried to excuse his client, who tasered himself with a stungun to see if it worked, by using Homer Simpson in his case.
John Walker’s client, Ricky Hodgkinson, had pleaded guilty to violating the Firearms Act 1968 after police caught him buying a million-volt Taser gun in a pub and then firing it at his chest. Hodgkinson claimed he wanted to see how strong it was.
“He is like the cartoon character Homer Simpson. It was a silly thing for him to do but he hasn’t used it on anyone but himself,” Walker told Walsall magistrates’ court.
“There have been scenes in The Simpsons when Homer has given himself electric shocks and leapt in the air screaming with his tongue hanging out. This was a bit like that.”
Um, right. But Homer Simpson is a cartoon. If someone were to shove a crayon up his or her nose, and then remove it to see if they’d become a genius like the yellow-skinned patriarch, would we all nod our heads sagely and commend his creativity?
I think not. Though it could be a teensy bit funny.
Hodgkinson will be sentenced next month.
It’s not the first time Homer has been used in a court argument – in 1996, the Australian Federal Court heard a case about whether a brewery could legally market a product called Duff Beer, which Homer downs with blissful regularity on The Simpsons.
Thoughts? melissa@tvguide.ca
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