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Failure ofMan's Court System
"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of
men is fui/y set in them todo evil"- Ecclesiastes 8:11.
T
HE
MJAMJ, FLORIDA, riots
of last spring were lhe
worst outbreak of racial
violence in 13 years in the United
States. Fifteen people died. Bolh
blacks and whiles were set on,
beaten- in sorne cases mutilated.
More than a hundred million dol–
lars worlh of property was dam–
aged. And what ignited it all ?
The failure of man's court sys–
tem lO punish those who were
guil ty of murder!
The riots are testimony to failure
of man's system of criminal justice.
They are a result of the truth of
Isaiah's prophecy: " Judgment is
turned away backward, and justice
standeth afar off: for truth is fallen
in the street, and equity cannot
enter" ( l saiah
59:14).
The Miami riots began May
17,
after an all-whi te jury acquit–
ted fou r white pol ice officers, two
of whom were Hispanics, of blud–
geoning lo death a black insur–
ance salesman, Arthur McDuffie.
As the rioters took to the s treets,
they chan ted his name.
The facts of the McDuffie
murder case are simply out rage–
ous. While the stories differ on
which police officer may have
delivered lhe fatal blow, there is
agreement that severa) Miami
policemen savagely beat McDuf–
fie and later lied in police reports
to make it look like an accident.
October / November 1980
by
Stanley R. Rader and Jeff Calkins
McDuffie was on his motorcycle,
about
2
a.m., December
17, 1979.
According to pol ice reports,
McDuffie ran a red light, and when
police gave chase, tried to outrun
them. The chase allegedly hit
speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.
Slories differ asto whether McDuf–
fie crashed or surrendered. The
init ial police report said he crashed
and hit his head on the pavement.
Yet it also said he then resisted
arrest so violen
ti
y that pol ice had to
forcibly subdue him- an unbeliev–
able story considering the kind of
damage anyone sustains who is in a
motorcycle accident. After McDuf–
fi e was stopped, severa! officers set
on him with nightsticks and heavy
metal flashlights. After he was on
the ground , motionless, one officer
in part icular repeatedly smashed
him in the head .
The beating inflicled ter rible
injury. The coroner said his skull
had been "cracked like an egg."
A Dade Counly medica! examin–
er said it was " the equivalent of
falling four stories and landing
between your eyes."
And yet the men who beal him
got off scot free! How lhey did so
reveals much about human courts
and "justice."
False Witnesses
The beating of McDuffie had
been so brutal, and the initial
police reports so inconsistent, thal
an interna! police departmenl
investigation was launched. Eight
ófficers were fi red. Four of them
eventually went on tria!.
But in thi s world , human
courts are tragically limited. How
do human cou rts find facts? They
must rely on witnesses.
This was the first tragedy in
the McDuffie murder case. The
only witnesses were the eight offi–
cers on the scene! In arder to get
testimony against the worst of–
fenders, lhe local prosecutors had
to promise certain of lhe officers
immunity. Without their testimo–
ny, il would have been virtually
impossible to prove who beat
McDuffie.
The jury thought that it was
not fair- as indeed it wasn't- to
only convicl some of the officers
whi le letting the others go free
with immunity. The human pros–
ecutors, of course, had absolutely
no olher choice.
It
was either
grant immuni ty to sorne or let al!
go free. Yel God's principie of
justice, found in the Bible, is far
different. Every evil crime should
be punished: " For there is noth–
ing covered, that shall not be
revealed; neither hid, that shall
not be known" (Luke
12:2).
The
Bible a lso declar es, "Be not
deceived; God is not mocked: for
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