[imagesource: YouTube / VICE]

Every so often, one comes across a story that sounds so far-fetched it can’t possibly be true.

Then you look a little closer, realise that it took place in the Midwestern United States, and it sort of makes sense.

In 1993, in the small Mississippi River-bordering town of Quincy, Illinois, 24-year-old James Scott was convicted for intentionally “causing a catastrophe”.

An obscure 1979 Missouri law sealed his fate, reports VICE:

His alleged crime was causing the West Quincy levee to fail and his alleged motive was to strand his wife on the other side of the river so he could be free to party and go fishing with his friends.

Though no one died in this levee breach, James is the first and only person in Missouri history convicted under this law and is currently serving a life sentence.

James’ wife worked at a truck stop on the other side of the river to Quincy and he reckoned that if he could flood the road that crossed the river, he would be free to jol.

Other in-depth reports suggest he was also planning to cheat on his wife. A book, Damned to Eternity, generally supports James’ claim that he is innocent.

For the VICE feature, the author of that book, Adam Pitluk, returned to Quincy to further investigate claims that James was scapegoated by the local community and law enforcement officials:

[source:vice]