Injustice . . . to the max . . .

Tonight I watched 60 Minutes . . . something I rarely do. The program is a bit sensational for my taste. I am both glad and yet sorry I watched. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/30-years-on-death-row-exoneration-60-minutes/

Tonight’s stories involved the case of one Glen Ford, a Black, man convicted of murder and robbery and sentenced to death by lethal injection in 1984. Mr. Ford lived in the worst prison in the USA (Angola in Louisiana) on death row for 35 years—the longest on record. Just think about it . . . for 35 years he lived in a 5′ X 7′ cell, with one hour per day to get outside to stretch! All the while knowing he was falsely accused and would likely die any day for a crime he did not commit, but no one seemed to care. His plight seemed hopeless.

The report disclosed that at his trial, he had two court-appointed attorneys . . . an oil and gas lawyer with no trial experience and a young insurance company staff attorney who had only been out of law school for a couple of years and his experience was limited to slip-and-fall cases. Mr. Ford was found guilty on circumstantial evidence.

After all that time, the real killer finally confessed to the crime. After all of the legal wrangling, poor Mr. Ford was released from Angola. Three weeks later he received a dismal medical report that he had stage-4 lung cancer and was placed in hospice.

Mr. Ford was clearly eligible for a $313,000 settlement under state law, but that claim was denied by a judge. He said he would have liked to have received that money to help his grandchildren have a better life.

Mr. Ford died soon thereafter. His story is a sad story . . . and a sorry commentary on our judicial system that seems to get it so wrong . . . so often. So often it seems the system breaks down and criminals walk away, and then sometimes we hear of an injustice such as this. Mr. Ford died and went out into eternity, where he appeared before the ultimate Judge, whom we will all one day stand before . . . we can be certain that poor Mr. Ford received a fair hearing there and no false, trumped-up charges were permitted. My hope is that he experienced amazing grace – it was available to Mr. Ford, just as it is to each of us. It is a choice!

As the story came to the conclusion, the reporter interviewed the current DA in the Parish from which Mr. Ford had been convicted and sentenced. The reporter attempted to take a humanitarian approach, but the DA wasn’t having any of that. He acknowledged that an error had occurred, but then declared that justice had prevailed in the release of Mr. Ford; thus, in his mind, the system had worked as it is supposed to work. The reporter hammered on him in an effort to get him to soften up some, which was wasted effort. The DA finally looked the reporter in the eye and said, “Sir, you are looking for compassion, and that simply is not my job. Compassion is the minister’s job; my job is the law!” Again, he insisted that the system had worked! That back-and-forth left me empty . . . that DA either knows nothing about compassion . . . or I don’t know anything about justice. I sure did get what the reporter was implying.

And what is it that you are whining about today? Who was it that did you so wrong? Hmmmmm

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