He Was Overqualified For This Job
If your pliers are found at the scene of a burglary and you’ve had 18 previous burglary convictions, it may be time to bust out the “I’m too good of a burglar to have committed this crime” defense in court. That’s what Austrian burglar Ernst Stummer did, and he won his case in court … despite the fact that police found his DNA on the tools left at the scene of a shop that had £600 worth of goods stolen from it.
Roland Friis, Stummer’s lawyer, said: “He is experienced enough to never break into a building secured by an alarm.
“Also, no halfway reasonable burglar would use such needle nose pliers for a job, and my client would have surely worn gloves. In fact it is almost an insult to accuse him of such a dilettante approach.”
Stummer said: “The pliers are probably mine but I have a lot of pliers and a lot of tools which I sometimes lend to not very reliable people. I think someone committed the crime using my pliers – but it wasn’t me.”
http://www.redbluenation.net/2007/11/he-was-overqualified-for-this-job.html