By Jerry Zeldenrust
Did you ever have one of those days when things seemed to be going from bad to worse? You get a hint that things might not go as smoothly as you had hoped, and then your fears are confirmed beyond any doubt.
I had such a day recently. I had been sub-poenaed to court on the first hearing of my first DUI (driving under the influence) arrest since I had been back in uniform. The arrest was textbook except for the Breathalyzer results, which were extremely high, denoting the tolerance developed by the driver over the years. The Breathalyzer operator marveled that this driver could have such a high blood alcohol content and still be walking and talking (some-what). This made me very confident as the trial date approached. If anyone would be found guilty and directed to get help with an obvious alcohol addiction problem, it would be this guy.
I showed up in uniform for the hearing, with all my reports in triplicate, and checked in with the assistant state's attor-ney (ASA), who seemed a little harried by the heavy caseload. Without even looking at them, she buried the copies of the reports I'd handed her under the stack she carried.
After an hour or so, a second ASA entered the room, gave me a startled look, and asked, "Why are you here?" I named the case and explained where my reports were. She reported a short time later what she had discovered: "The normally pleasant and fair judge is a little crabby with the slow progression through the court call, and, oh by the way, your defendant's attor-ney is a personal friend of the judge."
As we approached noon, things got worse. The backlog of trials had angered the judge, who now had his lunch plans can-celed. As a favor to his attorney-friend, he placed my case up next. We had no time to prep my testimony, and the defense attor-ney had a reputation for turning mean on cross-examination of police officers who didn't know their reports thoroughly. Are you ready?
More instructions from the ASA: "Don't let the attorney trick you. He likes to talk nice, smile a lot, lure you in, and then turn on you to get you mad and trip you up. Don't get into an argument with this attorney, or the judge will turn against us. I hope you know all your reports perfectly; the judge hates it if you don't. Did I tell you? If we lose this hearing, the entire case gets thrown out."
If I was becoming a little nervous before this, the worried look on the ASA's face wasn't helping to calm me. I looked around the room and noticed that the defendant, who had been wearing shorts and sandals and had hair hanging in his eyes on the morning of the arrest, was now wearing a new suit and dress shoes and looked like he was ready for the prom.
Next to him was his attorney, sporting a very confident and ever-increasing smile as he said, "This won't take long, Judge." 'Alright, let's go," said the judge. "Motion to exclude witnesses," said the attorney, meaning that I was excused to the hall outside the courtroom while the defendant testified first.
I found myself pacing as my mind raced through the probable questioning
by the defense attorney. Fear of the unknown can be debilitating. Some
officers' memories go blank, some tongues get tied, while oth-ers stammer
and forget key facts of the case. I've seen it. I whispered a prayer for
wisdom and calmness. Immediately the morning's devotional I had read that
day came to mind. "Words of Hope" had been reviewing the life and lessons
of Joshua:
how his trust in God's promises enabled the Israelites to conquer the
people of Canaan; how God caused the enemy to fear and run, in one instance
sending hor-nets ahead to drive the enemy out and winning the war before
the Israelites even arrived or drew their swords. And how, in times of
conflict, God's people remained calm and spoke the truth in love.1
Then a host of verses came to mind:
"Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world."2
"If God be for us who can be against us?"3
I had peace. I knew that God was in con-trol of all things and that
He cares about all of our "trials." If it were God's will that this hearing
went against this defendant, He would cause it to be so - because of me
or in spite of me.
They called me to testify, and I recalled the case facts with no mistakes, just the "truth in love." The smile was now on the Assess face as she summed up the matter in her final arguments. Just like the hornets sent before the battle, the defendant had con-tradicted his own testimony and had been caught in several lies before I even entered the room. The battle was won while I was out in the hall praying. Despite all the tricks and maneuvers, fears and confusion, the verdict was in: Motion of the defen-dant denied.
I wanted to yell, "Did everyone see what just happened here?" I had experienced first-hand the handiwork of God. The Comforter had come with the peace that passes all understanding. The father of lies had been defeated by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Isn't it great to know that our awesome, all-powerful God cares about our every need, big or small? My devotional time had prepared me for the trial that God knew was ahead of me that day, although I never saw it coming. He had shown me again that if we turn all our anxious moments over to Him and then stand back, we'll have an opportunity to see God's plan played out in our lives as He intended it to be.
1 Joshua 22
2 lJohn 4:4
3 Roman's 8:31