The box stops here
S.C. Spangler/Tribune-Review
By Bob Stiles
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, September 29, 2006
A man showed up Thursday for his preliminary hearing in Greensburg wearing a crisp dress shirt and a snappy tie -- just like his attorney wanted -- and a box on his head.
Yes, that's right: a blue-and-white cardboard carton that covered his head and....
had two eyeholes cut in it so he could see.
The antic -- call it the "box defense" -- drew quite a few second, third and fourth glances in the waiting area outside District Judge James Albert's office. Box Man had a 10:45 a.m. appointment there and a possible unveiling -- or is that "unboxing?"
"It's a first for me," Albert said, explaining that he's seen some odd things in his 16 years on the bench, but never a box-wearing defendant.
A number of Westmoreland County courthouse workers made their way to the lower levels of the building, where Albert's office is located, to get a glimpse of the unknown defendant.
"What?" one exclaimed.
"Did you see that?" said another bemused worker.
"There's a guy with a box on his head," said a third, pointing.
Others joked about whether the man would have "box head," instead of "hat head," when he took off the cardboard chapeau.
Defendants and others in the waiting room were no less curious.
Michelle Lewis, of Homer City, sat beside Box Man for much of the morning.
"It's different," she conceded.
Keith Juart, of Greensburg, did a double-take when he first saw Box Man.
"I thought he was just kidding around," Juart said. "But he kept it on. I didn't know what was going on.
"I said 'witness protection' to my sister-in-law, and my brother said, 'SpongeBob SquarePants.'"
Michael Rosenbauer, of Greensburg, assumed the man either committed a horrendous crime -- besides wearing a partly white box after Labor Day -- or planned to squeal on others.
"I thought he was either a rat or he did something bad," Rosenbauer said.
"I thought it was humorous, yeah," he said. "But all he's doing is standing out more. If he was trying not to be known, he shouldn't have the box. He should be standing in the corner somewhere."
The box also drew long looks from several police officers as they waited for their cases to be called.
Southwest Greensburg Lt. Chris Kent, Box Man's arresting officer, found some humor in it all.
"Do you and your Happy Meal want to come back here?" Kent quipped to Box Man's attorney about going to a room to discuss the case.
"In 15 years, I have not had a man in a box," Kent later conceded.
On another level, he wasn't amused.
"I just found it to be very ... ridiculous," Kent said, pausing to find the right word.
Box Man's attorney, Jeff Leonard, said he decided that wearing the box would be in his client's best interest. It literally was part of his defense, the attorney explained.
"I'm trying to think outside of the box, so to speak," the lawyer said.
Leonard explained that there was an issue about whether a witness would be able to identify his client in connection with a July theft of reel wire. The witness might see a photo lineup before his client went into the courtroom for a hearing, Leonard said, and he didn't want the witness to see Box Man's face before that.
"This was kind of a simple way to force the commonwealth to meet its burden without the defendant having to reveal his identity," Leonard said.
Box Man's case apparently did reach a conclusion. And he left the courthouse, with no comment coming from the box.
The agreement calls for Box Man, Justin Michael Kalich, 26, of Box 365, New Stanton RD1, to pay for the wire, valued at less than $600, in exchange for having theft and other charges dropped, Leonard and Kent said later.
Kalich didn't have a previous criminal record, Kent explained.
"If he had a criminal record ... then there would have been a more serious outcome," he said.
Box Man then possibly would have been in a box -- the jail kind.
Bob Stiles can be reached at bstiles@tribweb.com or (724) 836-6622.
