Let’s face it: In the summertime, nobody wants to read boring contracts or legal briefs. There is a reason publishers call their, shall we say, lighter fare “beach reads.” So what better way to take your mind off those summer “lawyer doldrums” than by reading something amusing—perhaps even a glimpse of the lighter moments in our legal system?

Let’s begin with a little game I like to call “fun with the police blotter.” On June 4, 2024, Austin police arrested a 37 year-old man who was allegedly driving a stolen vehicle in south Austin. That’s not the funny part; the amusing side to this is the name of the suspect: Optimus Prime. Yes, that’s the man’s legal name; we don’t know what his birth name was before he “transformed” into Optimus Prime. Unfortunately for the suspect, no other heroic Autobots came to his aid (nor did he transform into the white Mercedes he’s accused of stealing). As a result, he was last seen being held at the Travis County Correctional Complex on an $8,000 bond, and charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.