Responsibility

Here we go again: a lying witness in court. And again: lying did not help him at all.

The case at hand is about a 16-year-old boy, accused initially of attempted manslaughter with a machete and finally sentenced for an attempt to cause his victim grievous bodily harm.

When you get caught up in the justice system, we figure you should go to bat with a plan – one that returns the best possible outcome.

The plan that works the best and is for some mysterious reason hardly ever used is this one: confess, explain why you did it and express regrets.

It sounds so simple, but time and again we encounter defendants in court that are lying through their teeth and that keep lying even after a prosecutor of a judge tells them – as happened yesterday – “I think you are lying.”

What’s the point? If the court throws such a statement at you, you still have an opportunity to right a wrong. Yesterday’s defendant passed on that opportunity.

Suppose he had told the court something like: yeah, this was really stupid of me your honor. I was so angry with these guys that I thought I should teach them a lesson, you know? But as soon as I swung that machete I realized that what I was doing was very wrong. You honor, I even wrote a letter to the victim, saying how sorry I was for what happened. I swear this will never happen again. And you know what? I want to get treatment for my anger issues; that would really help me a lot and I appreciate all the help I can get.

Of course, the boy did not say anything like this. Instead he denied that he had brought a machete with him. No, it was lying on the ground and he had picked it up before anyone could get hurt. That he had hit somebody with the steel blade on his head, scalping him Indian style, ai, that really all happened by accident your honor.

Do I have anger issues? No sir, I do not recognize that at all. And so on.

It’s a small miracle that the court acquitted the boy of attempted manslaughter, but that is what it is. When the court has ruled, the case is closed and our boy is now for the foreseeable future a guest at the Miss Lalie Center.

That will give him time to think about a better strategy in case he falls foul of the law again in the future. Maybe he’ll arrive at the conclusion that taking a bit of responsibility is not such a bad idea after all.