Harvey Updyke chose to waive his arraignment in Lee County Circuit Court May 26 and by doing so entered a plea of not guilty.
The prosecution petitioned for a gag order in the case and also asked for another psychological evaluation on his client.
While we don't doubt the man is off his rocker, we also don't believe he should be allowed to use this defense.
Updyke had to make the effort to find a store that sold the herbicide Spike 80DF, drive the 30 minutes to Auburn from Dadeville and sneakily apply the substance to the historic trees.
This act was not done in a fit of rage after a game, it was a thought-out, malicious act of vandalism aimed at a sacred tradition of our school.
Updyke is currently out on bond and has done several interviews since his release. One article, written by ESPN staffer Wright Thompson, highlights Updyke's obsession with the University of Alabama's football program.
During the interview, Updyke flows back and forth between Al from Dadeville, who has no problem taking the blame for the crime and actually wanted to get caught, and Harvey Updyke, a man in poor health who would rather kill himself than go to prison.
Honestly, the whole thing seems like an act.
We believe him when he says he didn't think what he was doing was a felony, but he knew what he was doing was wrong.
As most of us learned from a young age, if you have to sneak around to do something, it probably means you shouldn't be doing it.
It is high time for the Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde charade to end and for the real Harvey Updyke to please stand up.
Updyke is 62 years old and was a state trooper for Texas. He needs to be setting a better example for his grandchildren and take responsibility for his actions.
Playing mind games with a reporter and having a self-contradictory story about getting assaulted at a gas station is no way to win public favor or sympathy.
We may not agree with or condone what he did by any means, but we would respect him more if he took a guilty plea and ended this process quickly.
Giving some form of closure to the Auburn family is the least he could do after what he has allegedly done.
The trees he poisoned were not just pillars welcoming fans fresh off the road, they were a symbol of the unity our fans share.
By ranting on with both sides of his personality in the media, he is making a mockery of the whole situation.
Our children, God willing they be Auburn fans, will be greeted by smaller, younger trees after a win because of this man.
And yet, he feels as though he can do a few incomprehensible interviews, fail a psych screening and walk away as though nothing ever happened.
We're not asking for him to be strung up by his toenails in the middle of the Quad, but someone needs to be held responsible for this and give some form of retribution to the fans.
This is not something to take lightly, and the water system that services thousands of residents could have been tainted if measures weren't taken to prevent such a disaster.
Whether he realized it or not, he could have harmed a lot of innocent people.
All we are asking is that he, who carelessly took from what should be a happy time for our University, be an adult and not take the easy way out.
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