ENSENADA.- Can a talking bird's statement be used as evidence in a crime? That's the question a Baja California judge had to answer after a man tried to use his pet's "words" in a shoplifting case.

Iván Barbosa Ochoa, the City's prosecutor, told Gerardo Sánchez from the local El Vigía newspaper that several days ago about a case involving a man who walked in and reported two officers who were supposedly shoplifted from him.

El Vigía says that "the prosecutor reported that the incident happened last week, but the name and details of the complaint can't be released as the investigation involving the case is ongoing. What didn't happened -he humorously made it clear- is accept the parrot's testimony."

Even if he believed the bird, he says, legally there's no basis to take his oral statements as that of a person's, so they couldn't go that route.

Nonetheless, they still got a kick out of the case and Barbosa adds that the parrot started badmouthing the room after they denied its "testimony," making the incident "even more unusual and fun" for them.

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jose.sanchez@sandiegored.com