SUPREME FOLLY edited by Rodney R. Jones...

SUPREME FOLLY edited by Rodney R. Jones and Gerlad F. Uelmen, illustrated by Lee Lorenz (W.W. Norton: $6.95; 205 pp.). This collection of oddball pleas, appeals, judgments and transcripts will convince even the most naive reader that the law is not necessarily “the true embodiment of everything that’s excellent.” A felon in Sioux City, Iowa, tried to have the terms of his parole altered, asserting that being required to remain in Iowa constituted “cruel and unusual punishment.” In a case from California, a convicted murderer declared, “As God is my judge, I didn’t do it. I’m not guilty.” The judge replied, “He isn’t, I am. You did. You are.”