Mark Twain once said: "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes." I have experience this at least twice in my lifetime. The first time was about 12 years ago when I stood before a judge and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The second time was early last month, when I stood before a different judge, to ask that my probation be cut short by 3 months so I could vote in the presidential election this year.
Eleven years ago I was sentenced to prison for 10 years for a crime I committed in the 1990s. I served out just short of 9 years of that sentence, having about 13 months taken off for good behavior in prison. And I deserved every day of my sentence. In fact, there are people serving much longer sentences than I got for the same crime.
But there were many things that were told to my judge back then that were simply not true. Instead of my judge being able to look objectively at the crime I committed, what the law says about the crime I committed, and rule accordingly, he also had before him many things that were not true.
No big deal. I served out my prison sentence and got on with my life. But then last month I filed a motion with the court to get off probation 3 months early so I could vote in the presidential election this year. The judge denied my motion. Again, no big deal. I only had 3 months left on my probation, and I would not have voted for either Obama or Romney! But like 12 years ago, my judge was also lie to this time.
The prosecutor told my judge that he had talked to my probation officer. And my probation officer told him that I have a no contact order, which is true. But the prosecutor also told my judge that in his conversation with my probation officer, she told him that I said I was going to violate that no contact order just as soon as I got off probation.
That is absolutely not true. I have strictly obeyed my no contact order for the past 12 years. And I have even told my probation officer in person (and in a recent email) that I fully plan on continuing to obey that no contact order once I am off probation. In a later conversation with my probation officer, she assured me that she never told the prosecutor I said I was going to violate my no contact order. The prosecutor must have taken it upon himself to lie to my judge.
In one of John Grisham's novels, he says:
"Kriegler was telling the truth, but the truth needed to be blurred at this point. This was a cross examination, so to hell with the truth. The witness had to be discredited."
My prosecutor had a job to do. He needed to convince my judge that she should not let me off probation 3 months early so I could vote in the election this year. And if he had to lie to her to do his job, well, that's then that's what he was going to do.
I read a short poem about lawyers that goes like this:
"As a young lawyer from the books that I've read
I thought justice and law were the same.
But I soon put such juvenile thoughts from my head
and I studied the rules of the game!"
-Author unknown
I'd like to see my judge 'explode' and yell at my prosecutor (like Rep. Trey Gowdy in the article above): "I want to know why I was lied to!"
The Bible says" "Thou shalt not bear false witness." Exodus 20:16
