Case closed: Stolen Barrister Bear 'sleeps with the fishes,' but replica is back outside law firm
A “Barrister Bear” sculpture outside a New Bern, North Carolina, law office came to a sad end last year.
The police investigation revealed the mascot “was cut up in pieces and thrown into the river,” said attorney Scott C. Hart of Sumrell Sugg Carmichael Hicks & Hart in an email to WCTI. “As we said then, Barrister Bear sleeps with the fishes.”
However, the law firm commissioned a replacement statue from another artist (the original artist has died, WNCT reported) and the new Barrister Bear created by Cheryl Ashe is now in place.
For those who look closely, there is what Hart describes as “a subtle tribute to his predecessor and his demise—a small fish under his foot.”
Police charged two high school students in connection with the theft in December, WCTI reported. After full restitution was made, police say, the case was closed.
The original bear sculpture at the law firm was part of a group of 50 that were exhibited by businesses throughout New Bern, known as “Bear Town,” as part of a civic art project celebrating the town’s 300th anniversary, according to the Sun Journal and the law firm website.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “‘Justice’, Law Firm Mule Mascot, Stolen”
ABAJournal.com: “‘Justice’ Mule Mascot Found … In Pieces”
