Dictionary.com describes an alibi as “the defense used by an accused person of having been elsewhere at the time an alleged offense was committed.” Although the term was more commonly used in the court of law, the word is now said so often that it’s definition also includes “an excuse” and now criminals around the world seem to think they need one. As a result, some of the alibis given in court are unlike anything we’ve ever heard. Here are some of the weirdest alibis used in court.  

1. My Diet Made Me Do It 

In July 2010, Rashad Valmont walked into his supervisor’s office at the Fort Gillem Army Base and unloaded on him, six times. After turning himself in, he was charged, but believed he had a reasonable explanation. According to Valmont’s lawyer, his actions were a side effect of being on a crash diet that Sergeant Mosley, the deceased supervisor, told him he needed to be eligible for a mandatory course. His lawyer claims that Valmont was dehydrated and delirious, but the prosecution had a different version of how things went down. Valmont had several poor reviews and was told to lose weight to meet the military’s requirements. The judge didn’t buy it and sentenced him to life in prison without parole.  

2. The High-functioning Sleepwalker 

On a cold January night in 1997, Scott Falatar was involved in a domestic incident and it didn’t take long for him to be charged. While Falatar didn’t deny the crime, he did blame it on sleepwalking. According to the widower, he thought that he was repairing his pool with a screwdriver when he was, in fact, repeatedly taking aim at his wife. The sleepwalking defense is no stranger to a courtroom and people have been acquitted in the past, but Falatar’s case was unique. After the tragic event, he removed his clothing and hid it inside a tire well. According to the defense, his actions were too complex for a sleepwalker. He was sentenced to life in prison.  

3. We Did It All the Time  

In 2008, a woman named Rebecca Bargy provided a plausible reason for her husband’s death. According to her, the couple regularly engaged in some rather adventurous alone time, but this time, things went a little sideways. Rebecca stated that after muzzling her husband, she taped his mouth and eyes before bandaging his head. She then tied him up and left him for a few hours. She would have been acquitted if that was the story. Detectives stated that she left her husband in his immobile state for 20 hours while she met another man at a local motel. Rebecca was charged and sentenced to 18 months in jail. 

4. Entering the Matrix 

In 2007, a 27-year-old man named Vadim Mieseges was studying at San Francisco State University when he confessed to scattering his 47-year-old landlady’s parts across the city. Mieseges, originally from Sweden, was picked up while wandering around a mall.  He confessed to the crime but explained that he did it because he was afraid of getting sucked into the Matrix (yes, the Keanu Reeves film). A background check showed that Mieseges suffered from paranoid personality disorder and that he was institutionalized in his home country, Switzerland. His mental state, in addition to the pills in his system led him to attack his poor landlady. Mieseges was deemed insane and was institutionalized. 

5. My Evil Twin Did It 

Many people have tried and failed to use the evil twin excuse in court, but in 2009, twins Sathis and Sabarish Raj made the argument and won. One twin was caught transporting hundreds of pounds of illegal pharmaceuticals inMalaysia, a charge which if convicted meant that the guilty party would be executed. Luckily for the twins, the police didn’t know who did what and it didn’t help that the brothers kept blaming each other. There was no doubt that one of the twins had committed the crime, but it was impossible to prove which one did. As a result, both brothers walked away unscathed.