Judge puts on nun mask for bank heist decision

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CHICAGO – A federal judge in Chicago says he put on a nun mask to help him find a defendant guilty of bank robbery.

Navahcia Edwards and her fiance, Lyndon Wesley, were accused of robbing a Palos Heights bank in May 2011 wearing nun masks. The Chicago Sun-Times reports (http://bit.ly/VIXnU7) that bank tellers said they could see the robbers’ skin through the masks’ eyeholes and identified them both as African American.

Edwards is African American. Edwards’ attorney Charles Aron claimed Wesley robbed the bank with a white accomplice who blackened her face.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly noted that when he wore a similar nun mask in his chambers, the white skin around his eyes was clearly visible.

Kennelly also pointed out that Edwards had purchased nun masks online.