A Connecticut television station traffic reporter, Desiree Fontaine was caught by security personnel as she apparently tried to shoplift a Hawaiian shirt, a bottle of cologne, two pairs of earrings and a necklace from a Sears store. When she was apprehended, Fontaine explained that she was shoplifting as part of a freelance reporting project she was doing “on the side.” Presumably this will set up a First Amendment defense at her trial, with her lawyer arguing that shoplifting is protected by Freedom of the Press.

The real question is this: is this excuse more or less desperate than the previous benchmark, Lindsay Lohan’s claim that the cocaine police found in her pocket wasn’t hers because she was wearing someone else’s pants?

[Thanks to Legal Blog Watch for the story.}