Sometimes there's nothing you can add to a newsarticle. This just in:
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Nobody needs two left feet.
Even though a North Carolina man found an amputated human leg inside a smoker he bought at auction, he can't keep it, Judge Greg Mathis ruled on his television show in an episode that aired Thursday.
Shannon Whisnant had refused to return the leg to its owner, telling the judge he wanted to build a museum and charge people $10 to look at the limb, which had been cut off 2 to 3 inches above the knee.
"You're not getting that leg. I'm not giving you the man's leg," Mathis told Whisnant.
John Wood, whose left leg was amputated after a 2004 plane crash, joked to the judge about losing his leg twice. He had kept the leg and the cooker inside a rented storage space. When the South Carolina man couldn't pay the bill, the items were auctioned.
He said he wanted his severed leg so that it could be cremated with him when he dies.
The judge dismissed Wood's claim for emotional distress caused by media coverage of the case and ordered him to reimburse Whisnant $5,000.
The men had agreed to have their case settled by Mathis, and they signed papers that his decision was legally binding.
1 imaginary dana said on November 2, 2007
I.... I.... I'm speechless. WHERE do you find such news, embracey??
2 ChrisB said on November 2, 2007
I don't understand Mathis' ruling. Shouldn't the guy get to keep the leg and open his own freak show museum since he purchased EVERYTHING in the storage locker?
3 Michael said on November 2, 2007
Thankfully, sometimes reason overrules the law.
4 imaginary embracey said on November 2, 2007
D @ 1: This kind of news finds ME.
Chris @ 2: You'd think. But Mathis did order the leg's original owner to pony up $5 grand for it.
Still, my mind is aflutter with questions. Like, why didn't Mr. Wood put the leg in a damn deep-freeze? And what kind of state is the leg in after being left unrefrigerated (or unembalmed) for 3+ years? (Would it be WORTH $10 to see?) And if a foreclosure auction was imminent, why didn't he get himself to that storage rental and scoop up the limb pronto?
Enquiring minds want to know.
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