Rare Book Monthly
Articles - January - 2008 Issue
<i>In The News</i>: Magna Carta Sells For $21.3 Million
Rural Hessney Auction sold its second Book of Mormon this year.
The saga of the Kentucky students who stole a bunch of rare books from the Transylvania University Library, and attempted to sell them to Christie's, goes on. Last month, their infamy managed to land them an article in Vanity Fair magazine. Now, they are trying to get their 87-month sentences reduced. They claim the judge erred in ruling the stunning device they used in subduing the librarian constituted a "dangerous weapon." They contend that the shock emitting device, which they call a "stun pen" (not a "stun gun"), is not a dangerous weapon because the shock is small and cannot cause serious injuries. The librarian may disagree. If successful, the defendants stand to have 17 months knocked off of their sentences.
The prosecution responded with an appeal of its own. They said that the size of the theft was underestimated because it did not include the value of books taken from the rare book room, but dropped in the stairwell in the defendants haste to exit the premises. The prosecution concluded that if these books, which included an Audubon Birds of America, were added to the total, they would have received an additional 21 months in prison.
