Monday, January 5, 2009

Riddle #38: The murderer

A woman was found guilty of murdering her sister's husband. The judge stated, "This is the strangest case I've ever had. The woman is guilty of murder, yet I cannot give her the death sentence, and I cannot even put her in jail. The only punishment I can give is a fine." Why?

The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.
Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

7 comments:

  1. Was she deprived of food, or any
    other necessities?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, Gary, you are correct. The murderer was a Siamese twin. She could not receive the death sentence, because her sister would die too. She could not go to jail because her sister would have to go to jail too. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Saimese twins are conjoined twins -- twins that are physically joined together and cannot be separated. Thus, if one dies, the other one dies. If one goes to jail, the other one goes to jail.

    ReplyDelete