Thou shalt not kill

Simple. Uncomplicated. Or is it?

 

No matter how bad a week we’re having, almost all of us can still proclaim that at least we haven’t broken the Fifth Commandment! The other commandments may have been more challenging, but at least we haven’t broken No. 5! Or have we?

 

Well, there I was in the confessional a number of years ago asking God to be forgiven for violating big No. 5! No, of course I didn’t personally kill anyone! I did, however, unwittingly become a partner in the culture of death, which exists in our society.

 

For almost nine years, I was a prosecutor in the DA’s Office. I thought I had reached the pinnacle of my profession when three different times, I convinced juries of twelve otherwise normal human beings to return a verdict sentencing another human being to death.

 

However, I had been blinded to the truth and held captive by my personal flaws, my sinfulness. Ambition, ego, and pride lead me to wrongful conclusions. I was an ardent proponent of the death penalty. But I was wrong. Oh, make no mistake, the men I prosecuted were as guilty as sin and their prosecution was righteous. They were evil men who did such vile acts that they cannot even be shared in this forum. There was no doubt that these were dangerous criminals against whom society must be forever safeguarded.

 

But therein lies the mistake. Punishing a wrongdoer and safeguarding society is one thing, attempting to make two wrongs a right by killing a killer, is another. The evil one clouded my judgment and distorted my thinking. As badly as they had done in the exercise of the gift/curse of free will, they were still children of God, made in his image. Their ultimate judgment will and must be before the throne of God, not the court of man. We are obliged to enforce man’s laws and keep men like this forever behind bars, but to invoke the death penalty is an usurpation of God’s authority.

 

Why the change, you might ask? After leaving the DA’s office in 1990 and entering private practice, I began to soul search the issue. It took time. Things just weren’t adding up. From the simplest of tests, "What would Jesus do?", to a more complicated analysis, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2266-2267), the wrongfulness of the death penalty in the United States kept building. Jesus, himself, spared the life of the adulteress…"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!" (John 8:7)

 

Slowly but surely the change began to surface but the ability and courage to "come out of the closet" did not come until the Lord graced me with a profound and blessed experience, which changed my life. In February 1997, I lived my Cursillo. During this experience, the Holy Spirit descended upon me and converted my life. I came to know that the radical and only solution to the world’s problems lies in Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ never executed anyone.

Afterwards, many of the issues, which daunted me then, became very clear. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free". (John 8:32) My sight was restored and I was no longer a captive.

 

I now see the truth about capital punishment…it’s wrong.

 

So that’s how I found myself in the confessional about the Fifth Commandment. We don’t have to be the one "pulling the trigger" or "throwing the switch" to be wayward in regard to No. 5.

 

By God’s grace and without personal merit, he converted my ways. I hope and pray that my "trial and error" will be of some insight to you.

 

Lord, I pray that you deliver us all from the culture of death!

 

An Edmond Attorney