In May, Anchorage, Alaska, public defender Leslie Hiebert, representing murder defendant Kenneth Padgett, explained why Padgett’s having stuck his mother’s corpse between two walls of her mobile home and sealed up the space as a tomb, was not evidence that he had killed her. Hiebert told the jury that Padgett was just trying to help her. She died of natural causes, Hiebert said, but “really loved her trailer” and “would not have a problem” with her remains being buried there. (Padgett was convicted.) [Anchorage Daily News, 5-4-04, 5-13-04]

This trial was truly a “big deal” in this small town.