A week ago, I'm happy to say, I was blissfully ignorant of this phrase. But it has been much bandied about since last week, when John Mark Karr was arrested in Thailand.

Wikipedia defines perp walk as "the controversial practice in the United States of the police parading a suspect who has been arrested through a public place where the media (in particular, television cameras) may observe and record the event."

An article on the CBS news Web site says: The "justice system ultimately is going to have to deal with Karr's comments during the Thai version of our infamous 'perp walk.' Watching that video, you could almost envision a modern-day Jack Ruby jumping out from the crowd to fire a bullet into Karr's midsection."

It was during that circus-like walk that Karr claimed that he had been with JonBenet Ramsey when she died and that her death was an accident.

Now that I know what it means, I can't help but remember Fresno's own most interesting perp walk of the past couple of years -- when Marcus Wesson was led from police headquarters with his hands handcuffed behind his back the day after he was arrested on charges of murdering nine victims in Fresno's worst mass slaying. A reporter asked him if he had anything to say. Wesson looked at the row of reporters and photographers and said, "I love you."