Albrecht Muth, courtesy of Georgetown Patch

If there wasn’t already something odd about Albrecht Muth, Friday’s preliminary hearing into accusations that he killed his 91-year-old wife Viola Drath surely exposed what will certainly be an interesting defense.

According to Georgetown Patch, Muth not only claimed that his incarceration for allegedly killing the Georgetown socialite in August violated the Geneva Convention, but also posited that Iraqi troops often go, well, commando:

At his preliminary hearing in D.C. Superior Court, Muth argued that as a “serving officer of a foreign army” he was entitled to his uniform and rank. Muth claims to be an Iraqi military officer. The Iraqi Embassy has denied any affiliation with Muth.

According to Muth, he almost landed at St. Elizabeth’s this morning because he refused correctional officers’ requests to put on underwear under his orange jumpsuit.

“We don’t wear underwear,” said Muth, referring to Iraqi military officers.

Moreover, according to the Post, evidence surfaced at the hearing that he had once threatened to “kill all Americans” and “bomb Georgetown.”

Now I’m no lawyer, but I imagine the Geneva Convention argument will fall flat with the judge. Yes, the Geneva Convention applies in Iraq, but it’s pretty unlikely that someone whose own membership in the Iraqi army is called into question and is living in the U.S. could benefit from the protections and privileges it grants. Unless, of course, Muth could prove that Iraq sent him to the U.S. to kill Drath as part of broader hostilities between the two countries. (Which in and of itself would be quite the leap, seeing as the U.S. and Iraq are on the same side.)

As for the underwear? Well, we’ll let someone else fact-check that one.

The U.S. Attorney has 10 days to respond, and we imagine he’ll vigorously object to any claims by Muth that he’d benefit from prisoner-of-war status. But for all the Law and Order I’ve watched, this seems like good groundwork for at least one type of defense — insanity.