When The Numbers Go Your Way

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction:

A San Francisco car enthusiast goes on trial Monday for an 18-year-old killing in which the man who confessed to pulling the trigger will never serve a day in jail.

Instead, he'll be the prosecution's star witness when the murder trial gets under way in San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City.

Through a quirk in state law, 33-year-old Jesse Rodriguez of Los Angeles, who prosecutors say confessed to the April 1989 shooting death of Robert Perruquet of Daly City, cannot be punished for the crime. He was too young when the killing was committed, and too old when he confessed.

There's more:

"I think it was something that had been bothering him for a number of years," the detective said. "He had been living an exemplary lifestyle since then. Put in the right environment, he was motivated to kind of come clean."

At the time of the confession, Oglesby said, he was unaware that Rodriguez was essentially immune from prosecution. He doubts Rodriguez knew it, either.

"He had no clue," Oglesby said. "I didn't have any clue until a couple of days later when I was told that by the D.A.'s office."

Shades of gray?