Far-Out Defense

Soon after Steven Masover, 19, held up a bank in Menlo Park, Calif., last November, he was apprehended with $78,000 of the bank's cash, an unloaded gun, a fake bomb and three hostages. In court, Masover, who was valedictorian of his class in high school, relied on a bizarre defense: he had stolen the money, but only to invest it in colonies in outer space as a way for earthlings to escape pollution and overpopulation. Moreover, he planned to pay the money back in 20 years or so, making the heist a forced loan rather than a robbery.

The defense argued that no one can be convicted of bank robbery in California unless the prosecutor can show that he intended to deprive the bank of its money permanently. Said Masover's attorney: "To me, that means forever." Whereupon the jury acquitted Masover, despite the district attorney's plea that spending the loot on space stations would be "permanently depriving someone of their money, in common horse sense."

The D.A. now fears that the jury's "flukish decision" will encourage other Robin Hood robberies. As for Masover, he was awarded a prestigious state regent's scholarship and plans this week to enter the University of California at Berkeley, where he will study physics and try to forget his close encounter with the law.

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