Your honor....that fool ain't dead. lol

[mrtonguetwista]

STILLWATER, Minn. -- A Minnesota man who missed a court hearing appeared to have a good excuse -- he was dead.

But authorities soon realized his obituary was a fake, and Robert Michael Mathison was arrested.

The St. Paul, Minn., man was supposed to appear in court in Stillwater on charges from a June case in which he faked a heart attack upon arrest.  

A short obituary in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on July 15 said Mathison died on July 12. It also said he was "Loved by everyone."

The same day, someone claiming to be Mathison's attorney faxed a letter to the court saying Mathison had died. It included a copy of the obituary.

But instead of dismissing the felony fourth-degree assault charge, a judge added the fax to the court file.

The state trooper who arrested him in June said he never believed the obituary.