Boston Blotter: Just How Important Is That Toilet Seat?

--Yesterday, Kathy Booth, on trial for killing her brother last year, suddenly changed her story and said she killed him in self-defense and blacked out during the incident. This came as a surprise to everyone in the courtroom, and the judge refused her plea. Booth was going to plead guilty to second-degree murder in a plea bargain, but now she will go on trial for first-degree murder.

Booth said she blacked out while she and her brother had a fight over various matters, such as why he peed on the toilet seat. The end result was that Booth killed her brother, Keith Payne, with a butcher knife.

Whether or not the pee on the toilet seat drove Booth, who has manic depression and was not taking medication, to kill her brother, has been treated differently by the news outlets. The Herald inserted the words "Deadly Toilet-Seat Squabble" into the headline, while the Globe was a little more subtle and waited until deep in the article to bring up the toilet seat incident. It seems that the Herald is trying to send a message to its male readers: Put the toilet seat up when you pee because we can't be responsible for what happens next.

--Brookline isn't the only nearby area to experience a perv outbreak. The warmer weather must flush 'em out. Two women called Cambridge police when they noticed a man who pulled in front of them as they walked on the sidewalk. He leaned out the window and gave them a "leering smirk." When the women saw what he was doing while delivering the aforementioned "leering smirk," it was pretty clear that he wasn't asking for directions.

All charges alleged until proven under law.