*a reflection I wrote after a class visit to the London Courthouse back in April....the man was released and all charges were dropped
“I was in prison and you visited me...” Well, actually you were in court and I was just on an educational trip with my law class so it was more watching than visiting. With eager eyes and listening ears we walked into the building eyeing the weapons in the belts of the security people as we passed by. A sort of majestic feeling passed through me as we entered the federal courtroom on the twelfth floor complete with a large coat of arms at the font of the room. Honi soit qui mal y pense… “Spurned be the one who evil thinks” written on it and here we were in a room where good versus evil fought (or rather Regina versus the accused). Later, in the same room, built to accommodate a large number of lawyers for the trial of the notorious biker gang the ‘Bandidos’ a case involving an ‘H group’ member was tried. The H group members are “slaves” to the Hell’s Angels, another notorious biker gang. As the man who I dubbed ‘Tattoo man’ was questioned I started to piece together the facts of the case, not unlike the investigators would have had to do. At first impression the case was simple: Tattoo man had been apprenticing at Tattoo World, a business next to the police station, and after a certain Agent Bradford had followed him around for several days a drug bust had been organized on the business. Instant success as the officers found cocaine in a basement furnace room and lidocaine* in a coffeepot, also found were some personal belongings such as a letter addressed to Tattoo man as well as his drivers license. Obviously Tattoo man was guilty; the cocaine must have been his and he was using Tattoo World as his FOB (forward operating base) while having all legal authorities believe he lived at his mailing address he was actually living in the basement of Tattoo World, dealing in coke acting as a the middle man for Hell’s Angels who had painted the basement door red (the official colour of their gang). Case closed…at least in my mind at first. But wait…the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms deems people innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. So, I fought to follow Tattoo man’s defence. Tattoo man had not been caught in possession of cocaine, and his knowledge of lidocaine was not illegal, lidocaine is not even a controlled substance. No one had any proof that Tattoo man knew about the cocaine in the basement, he only came there for bathroom breaks and the occasional party. Perhaps the only reason Tattoo man was even being ‘blamed’ for this was because of all his previous convictions which the crown prosecutor said “prove a total disrespect for the law”. “I wouldn’t say that.” was Tattoo man’s dismayed reply. After no further questions, and a long recess from court our class was left to wonder what would become of Tattoo man. I wonder if he was innocent. Mr. Allister, our guide even said it…some of the people in the crowded downstairs prison are probably innocent, but still are treated the same as the real criminal offenders until they are tried and proved innocent. I couldn’t help but wonder how our justice system compares with that of Jesus’ day so many years ago. He was tried in a trial where no one spoke in His defence, the looks on the faces of those who were present probably condemning Jesus with blatant hatred. There was no ‘innocent until proven guilty’ rule as Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin, in fact Pilot declared Jesus innocent yet Jesus was still flogged, hung on the cross, and mocked with intense hatred and evil thoughts. Words from Matthew 25:40 race through my head as I think of how Jesus compares himself with the least of these… “Truly, I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did for me.” The ‘scum of the earth’ those nasty creepy criminals who cover their bodies in tattoos and poison their systems with drugs…these people too are created in God’s image and were created for His glory. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). They too need to hear the gospel and repent of their evil deeds. “He who is stealing must steal no longer…” (Ephesians 4:28a). Instead of accusing and judging we ought to be loving and share the good news of salvation…prison is a great place to start especially when we remember that we would be in the same place were it not for the grace of God.
*lidocaine is often used to dilute cocaine when it is cut because cocaine numbs the gums and lidocaine has a stronger numbing effect as an anaesthetic so users are duped into believing the diluted version is stronger than it really is
