“The Wreath Murders”
First print date: August 6 1977
Prog appearance: 24
Writer(s): Malcolm Shaw
Artist(s): Mike McMahon
Total episodes: 1
A spate of seemingly random murders has been plaguing Mega-City One, all characterised by the leaving of a floral wreath on each body, earning them the dubious nickname “The Wreath Killings”. Frustrated with being unable to solve the crimes and bring the perpetrator to justice, Dredd resorts to quizzing the Hall of Justice's mainframe, MAC (stands for Macro Analysis Computer) and turns up one link: every murder scene was attended by the same ambulance. Can this be put down to mere coincidence or even over-zealousness on the part of the ambulance driver? Dredd thinks not, and tracks the ambulance to the retirement district, where the two are in the middle of the commission of a robbery, to be followed by the removal of the only witness.
Seeing Dredd's bike on the flat's viewscreen, the two pretend to be hurt, allowing one to get the jump on Dredd, but of course he is too quick and that now just leaves one medic to be dealt with. However he has dropped his gun, and now the lawbreaker picks it up, intending the Lawgiver to be the instrument of the Judge's own destruction. Little does he know though, that all Judges' weapons are DNA-coded to their owner and only accept the proper thumbprint to operate them. In the event they are used illegally, the gun has a built-in self-destruct which now activates, taking the perp with it as it explodes. As Dredd tosses a wreath on the two now-corpses, the irony could not be clearer.
Quotes
Citizen 1: “When's the Judge gonna find this maniac?”
Cop: “Aw come on! Give the Judge a break! Has he ever let you down? Trust him!”
Citizen 2: “Well he had better find him soon or he won't deserve the name of Judge!”
(This is an interesting peek into the simmering tensions that are always just below the surface between the Judges and the citizens. They're happy to have Dredd and his people keep them safe (as long as they don't end up on the Judges' wrong side, of course!) but like any crowd, they're ready to turn when fear and resentment and frustration begins to turn to anger and recriminations. And no matter how fascist a force the Judges are, they must be aware that, however emergency their original rise to power was, the people put them there and the people have the power to remove them. Whether or not the Judges would agree to go is another matter, but nobody wants the likes of a civil war on their hands!)
Dredd: “Come on MAC! Search your circuits! There must be some pattern to these crimes!”
MAC: “Terrorised populace ... Ambulance 4-2X removed the bodies from all crimes...”
(It might seem like MAC has hit upon the link here (and it has) but all the computer is doing is listing the facts behind the case. It has not made any connection; to it, there would not appear to be one. It's up to Dredd to make the human leap of logic and connect the dots, see the clue for what it is. Like they say, computers may get bigger and more powerful, but you'll never do away with the human element completely. Take that, Skynet!)
Victim: “Please! Take everything I own, but don't kill me!”
Perp: “We'll take everything all right sucker, but we're gonna kill you too! You'd only blab to the Judges!”
(This is remarkably similar to the guy who gets mugged in “Mugger's Moon”; he too pleaded for all he had to be taken but his life spared, and the thugs replied almost word for word to his abject plea.)
Dredd: “But the odds against that happening are a million to one! That's how they got away every time! Thanks MAC! You're a pal!”
MAC: “What is pal? Insufficient data. Please program data...”
(These computers can be pretty stupid huh? PAL: Policeman And Lawmaker! 
)
Perp: “Dropped your gun, Dredd! Now you're gonna pay! How'd you like to go? High explosive bullet? Hot Shot? What the ---? It won't fire!”
Dredd: “It's programmed to accept my handprint only. It also has a self-destruct mechanism if anyone else tries to use it!”
(There's an inherent flaw here. Say two Judges are fighting a perp. One gets disarmed and the other is down. Can the disarmed Judge grab his partner's weapon (ooer!)? I think they later upgraded this to a DNA response to any Judge, but I'm not quite sure.)
Famous firsts
This is the first time we hear of the Lawgiver's self-destruct capacity, which is triggered once anyone other than its registered owner tries to use it. Annoyingly though, the gun is again not named.