The Los Angeles Evening Express devoted a single paragraph to the case of Alfredo Gallardo, but they couldn’t have done a better job with the three sentences they wrote.

“Alfredo Gallardo, the Mexican whose facial beauty was spoiled when he was 14 years old by a kick from a horse, pleaded guilty to petit larceny after a prior conviction and was sentenced to two years in San Quentin. Gallardo stole a ripsaw and some other truck. At first he entered a plea of Not Guilty to give the authorities time to examine into his sanity but it was thought best today to let him plead guilty and be sent away from temptation.”

Starting off with an explanation of what spoiled Alfredo’s beauty is certainly a novel approach. I admit I did wonder what had happened to his eye, though “spoiling his facial beauty” seems a little harsh. Maybe they thought, “If we can’t scare him straight, at least we’ll puncture his vanity!”

More importantly, however, has anyone ever pleaded Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity to a petty larceny charge? I thought that was reserved for major crimes, like murder or kidnapping. The idea of sending someone to prison to keep them out of trouble is definitely an original idea.