Bizarre act halts court hearing

James Orr put an immediate halt to his criminal trial yesterday when he squeezed the contents of his colostomy bag onto the table in front of him and ate it. "There was what appeared to be faeces on the table and on the floor," assistant Hamilton County prosecutor David Prem said.

Prem was prosecuting Orr, 66, for robbery and kidnapping. The trial, without a jury before Common Pleas Court Judge Ethna Cooper, began last week but continued today. A witness had just taken the stand in the case Wednesday when Norm Aubin, Orr's attorney, said Orr leaned into him and asked if Aubin had anything to eat.



A shocked Aubin said he didn't. Orr then said he was hungry and asked for food. Aubin ignored him. That's when Orr made a spectacle of taking his colostomy bag, worn on the outside of his body to collect his waste, and placing it on the table. He then squeezed it and looked to be eating it. "It appeared he was eating his own (faeces) at the table," Aubin said.

The Sheriff's deputy in the room shouted "What are you doing?" and then cuffed Orr and rushed him out of the courtroom. The Sheriff's office later reported there was faeces on Orr's lips, beard, hands and the defense table where he was sitting. The judge suggested the courtroom had become a biohazard area and closed it for cleaning, continuing Orr's trial until next week.