A seemingly mundane trial over an alleged lottery-fixing scheme in Iowa has taken a strange turn as prosecutors filed a motion asking the judge to bar discussion about the defendant's Bigfoot hunting hobby.
"The prejudicial effect could potentially be as strong as Sasquatch itself," Iowa prosecutor Rob Sand wrote in the motion, "jurors could be incredulous. They could find it unusual enough that it outweighs other evidence in their mind."
Defendant Eddie Tipton is accused of tinkering with lottery computers in order to determine winning combinations in advance and then profit from that knowledge.
Whether his alleged ill-gotten gains were used towards searching for Sasquatch is unknown, but prosecutors contend that two of Tipton's friends who purchased winning lottery tickets were also Bigfoot hunters.
However prosecutors believe that connecting the three to Sasquatch would only distract the jury from the legal case at hand.
Tipton's attorney, meanwhile, decried the filing as a publicity stunt.
Should the prosecutor's motion that Bigfoot be barred from the trial come to pass, the judge's decision will unfortunately squelch any chance that the creature could appear as a character witness for the defense.
Source: Fox News