Via Metafilter:
If a Leap Baby born in 2000 commits a crime on February 28, 2018, should they be tried as a minor or an adult? One girl challenged the Australian courts with just this conundrum when she chose February 28, 2018 for her crime, resulting in incredibly complicated discussions of what exactly a "month" is and an initial ruling overturned on appeal....The comments are as interesting as the learned legal discussion:
...MORE
I propose a compromise. We can go by strict birthdays, like in Pirates of Penzance. So she's off the hook for the crime, but she can't drink until 2072.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 4:09 PM on September 15, 2018 [35 favorites]
Clearly this means that for those specific babies, they have one day in their life when they don't exist legally, and as such are immune to all prosecution for crimes committed on that day.
posted by CrystalDave at 4:15 PM on September 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
In the Yellowstone situation, popularized most recently by Vox (here via ScienceAlert) the one time a defendant attempted to use the defense (in this case for killing a bison) the judge said he wouldn't allow such nonsense and the defendant could appeal his ruling all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if he wished. The great buffalo hunter entered into a plea agreement with the prosecutors.
In both these situations, if the case concerned a capital crime, I would think some aggrieved local would take an Alexander-deals-with-the-knot-of Gordias approach and just shoot the perp.
"This is another stock image of the same woman, who is not the teenager from the court judgement, looking confused."
BuzzFeed: thank you.
posted by zachlipton at 4:01 PM on September 15, 2018 [26 favorites]