Often, wrong choices we make do matter … and sometimes very much.
Not all too many years ago I had scheduled a five defendant preliminary hearing on an unusually hot summer afternoon. My client was the wife of an ex-felon she had met at her church. Believing he had been reformed, she chose to marry him… she was wrong ... and on this particular afternoon she was to about to find out just how wrong her choice had been.
She had known nothing of her husband’s crimes until the day she was interrupted doing dishes by a raid on her home. Nevertheless, because the district attorney assumed she must have known something, he chose to charge her as an accessory … another wrong choice … but, like my client, it would take the afternoon hearing for him to realize it.
Rocket science was not required to soon realize that this particular hearing was going to be … shall we say … different. The scene upon entering the court was surreal … the room packed beyond capacity. In addition to the criminal court’s normal audience, every attorney, clerk, court reporter, secretary and bailiff from throughout the building who could break free were filling seats, standing in aisles or leaning shoulder-to-shoulder against the walls of the courtroom. That morning the district attorney had spread word throughout the courthouse that he intended to play for the amusement of all a pornographic video seized in the course of the arrests starring one of the defendants … an artistic effort he laughingly assured the many he hoped to impress they would not want to miss. So, regretfully they chose to flock in … but, as with my client and the district attorney, they also had chosen wrongly … yet again, however, the hearing would be required to bear that out.
At the outset, defense counsel offered the judge a number of motions, stipulations, waivers and objections to not only urge the judge to disband the circus that had formed, but also to forestall playing the video that had caused it. Every opportunity had been afforded him to do the right thing. However, apparently enjoying more his 15 minutes of fame, the judge chose instead to promote the party … again wrong ... however, yet again, only the hearing would reveal the magnitude of his error.
As the video began my client reflexively drew in a deep breath. Although forewarned, she could never have been completely prepared emotionally for the humiliation she was about to experience. Surrounded by strangers, she had no option other than to watch in the most extremely graphic detail her husband enjoying the company of a prostitute in every imaginable way.
As the video proceeded, the lewd jokes and laughter one could have predicted began to periodically erupt. Few, if any, seemed aware of the implosion of a tender human soul occurring in their midst. That may have been because my client’s embarrassment and shock was so crushingly absolute that her almost primal sobs had been rendered silent … evidenced only by her tears, a heaving chest and guttural gushes of air exuding from her now down-turned face.
Every fiber of my being wanting to relieve her pain, I suggested we pray. Her tear-streaked face nodded assent, but her continued silence required me to fill the void. Lacking any spiritual depth worthy of mention at that time of my life, I reached back for things I recalled from my youth … long story short, that afternoon God received a whispered request that this woman be given a peace and comfort beyond all human understanding … a peace that would allow her to not only endure but survive … and a comfort based on her faith that she would ultimately realize his purpose for this ordeal.
When we finished and opened our eyes the jokes and laughter had stopped and the court was virtually empty … all but a few of the spectators had silently departed. Even the district attorney now seemed embarrassed and soon consented to stopping the video … leaving now only the judge to stand in the way of mercy. Apparently finding its content engaging, however, he refused. Oblivious to the pain it had already caused, he ordered it to continue on … and on … and on …until its very end.
Who we choose to be our judges matters. Titanic political battles are now being fought over issues like the separation of church and state, euthanasia, abortion, evolution, gay rights and others … issues of morality that hang in the balance. All are part of today’s larger, and increasingly heated, cultural war … a war being fought to determine our country’s moral direction … a war that must eventually result in the rights of some prevailing over the conflicting rights of others … and a war in which the victor will most likely be determined by the judges we choose.
After Nuremburg the Allies assigned a group of legal scholars the task of reviewing the laws of Germany. Their mission: to identify and either eliminate or rewrite those laws they determined were written to favor policies of the Nazi regime. Interestingly, however, comparatively few could be found. Rather, most were found to bear the imprimatur of both neutrality and legitimacy. From this, the scholars concluded that many of the horrendous consequences the world had witnessed may have been largely the product of biased interpretations and applications of those laws rendered by the judges who that country had chosen to seat.
Could there be a lesson in that for us today? If we assume, as we must, that the setting of our country’s moral compass can likewise be so determined, when called upon to choose who our judges shall be, would it not be critical for us to remember … wrong choices we may make can matter … and sometimes very much?
© 2005 Clifford C. Nichols, Esq.
Cliff Nichols is an attorney practicing criminal defense/entertainment law in Santa Monica, California. He may be contacted regarding this editorial at either (310) 917-1083, www.cliffnicholslaw.com or www.thedailystand.com
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