Some accused criminals “get off on a technicality”—the charges might have been filed after the statute of limitations, for example. The accused criminals might have been guilty of the crimes, but they “got off.”

The satirical newspaper The Onion made a famous headline joke on May 20, 1998:

“Jurisprudence Fetishist Gets Off On Technicality.”

This became a popular joke on Twitter on February 1, 2010:

“Did you hear about the jurisprudence fetishist? He got off on a technicality.”


The Onion
Jurisprudence Fetishist Gets Off On Technicality
NEWS IN PHOTOS
May 20, 1998
VOL 33 ISSUE 19

Google Groups: misc.writing
delurking and making a contribution
Hound of Cullen
6/26/98
(...)
Did you hear about the jurisprudence fetishist?
He got off on a technicality.

Google Groups: uk.media.radio.archers
Clarrieluv school of economics - the Great Wash
Robert Carnegie
2/8/99
(...)
But I hope, like the jurisprudence fetishist I read about in The Onion, to get off on a technicality - let them that have come in late read Deja News to find out what I’m on about.

Google Groups: alt.fan.robert-jordan
Squig’s Things-In-Common Game
David Scully
9/18/03
(...)
“Jurisprudence Fetishist Gets Off On A Technicality”
-- Headline from The Onion

Twitter
David Jackmanson
‏@djackmanson
Stolen from @spanglegluppet - Did you hear about the jurisprudence fetishist? He got off on a technicality.
12:26 AM - 1 Feb 2010

Twitter
Chance Felinae
‏@ChanceAfterDark
@JetDWolf Did you hear about the legal fetishist that went to court?  He got off on a technicality!  *rimshot*
2:14 PM - 4 May 2011

Google Books
More One Liners,
Jokes and Gags
By Grant Tucker
London: The Robson Press
2013
Pg. ?:
Did you hear about the jurisprudence fetishist? He got off on a technicality.

Salon
MONDAY, JUL 1, 2013 07:15 PM EDT
The 10 nerdiest jokes of all time
Courtesy of a Reddit thread, these will make you the toast of your next philosophy study group
THERESA FISHER
(...)
10. And finally, a sex joke (kind of):

“Did you hear about the jurisprudence fetishist? He got off on technicality …”