Thursday, April 13, 2006

Leigh, the Habitual Inmate

A man known only as "Leigh" (he's "legally renounced his last name") was arrested last Friday for lingering in the Washington County Courthouse in Machias after closing. He handed a sheriff's deputy a note with his reasons for breaking the law, and for the 24th time was taken into custody for criminal trespass.

It's debatable whether Leigh can be guilty of criminal trespass, because his only home is the county jail at the same address. He gets himself arrested on a regular basis to protest a 1993 conviction for reckless conduct with a firearm, which he claims was bogus. He's spent about nine years in the jail, and was released just last Wednesday.
After spending two days doing personal errands around town, Leigh was ready to return to the jail by Friday afternoon. He has no home other than the jail, part of the county complex at 47 Court St. [Source]

2 comments:

Michelle Souliere said...

Well, he is certainly persistent.

Chris said...

What's weird is that he seems to have lived a normal life before the 1993 arrest. Either he "snapped" somewhere along the line, or he's just a very principled man who's been wronged by the system.