Meet the Fried Chicken Killer

No, this news story did not come from TheOnion.com. But I can understand why someone might suspect otherwise. From yesterday's edition of The Oregonian:

Tremayne Durham became known as the fried chicken killer because his agreement to plead guilty to aggravated murder last month hinged on him getting a KFC and Popeyes smorgasbord. At Durham's sentencing Wednesday, the family of the man Durham killed gave Durham a new name.

"Put this animal where he belongs," Michael Calbreath, the father of Adam Calbreath, told Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Eric Bergstrom before Bergstrom sentenced Durham to life in prison for Adam's murder. His sentence includes the possiblity of parole after 30 years.

. . . Durham, 33, a New York resident and convicted rapist, pled guilty to shooting Calbreath in the head using a pillow as a silencer. Durham wanted to sell ice cream and had ordered from an Oregon company an $18,000 truck that would play music.

Durham later changed his mind, but the company wouldn't refund the money. Infuriated, he came to Oregon. Durham killed Calbreath, a Gresham resident and former employee of the company, while looking for the company owner, Rob hambers.

As part of his plea deal, Durham asked to serve his sentence in a New York prison.

. . . Durham's defense attorney, Richard Wolf, said Durham wanted to test whether Bergstrom would really make his best effort to secure the transfer. To show his good faith, Bergstrom agreed to Durham's request for a bucket of chicken.

The bucket of chicken turned into a feast including mashed potatoes, carrot cake and Haagen-Dazs ice cream. After his sentencing today, his defense attorney confirmed, Durham gets the rest of the deal -- calzones, lasagne, pizza and ice cream. His attorneys -- not taxpayers -- are picking up the tab.

What? No foie gras? No peach cobbler? No apple-cider donuts?

I doubt we'll ever see KFC launch an ad campaign with the tagline: KFC, We Make Killer Chicken!