Thursday, March 15, 2007

Man did not blame unicorn in DUI case - Update

It turns out there are no such things as unicorns not even in a drunken driving case.

On Tuesday, a Billings prosecutor told a district judge that Phillip C. Holliday Jr., 42, claimed a unicorn was driving when his truck crashed into a light pole earlier this month.

On Wednesday, the chief prosecutor said it was all a misunderstanding.

County Attorney Dennis Paxinos said deputy prosecutor Ingrid Rosenquist misunderstood an e-mail from a colleague who used the phrase “unicorn defense,” thinking it was an actual statement from Holliday. “Unicorn defense” is a slang term used by prosecutors when a defendant blames some mythical person for a crime, he said.

“It’s kind of a code (between prosecutors) and the code was misinterpreted,” Paxinos said.

He said Holliday never told police a unicorn was driving the truck. Rather, he told them an unnamed woman was driving when his truck hit the light pole.

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