Articles
"Boxed" In?
REENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - September 30, 2006 - A man accused of theft arrived for a preliminary hearing wearing a cardboard box on his head in an effort to conceal his identity.
Justin Michael Kalich, 26, wore the box at the suggestion of his lawyer while he waited outside a judge’s office for an appointment Thursday morning.
“I’m trying to think outside of the box, so to speak,” attorney Jeff Leonard said.
Leonard said the move was prompted by concerns over whether a witness would be able to identify his client in connection with a July theft of reel wire.
The witness might see a photo lineup before his client went into the courtroom for a hearing, he added.
“This was kind of a simple way to force the commonwealth to meet its burden without the defendant having to reveal his identity,” Leonard said.
Charges were dropped at the hearing when Kalich reached an agreement to pay for the wire, valued at less than $600, according to Leonard and police.
<http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=bizarre&id=4614371>
Now, let’s see. “At the suggestion” of his clearly brilliant attorney, in an “effort to conceal his identity”, this equally brilliant individual put a “box on his head” before an appointment with a judge. Then, he ended up pleading out, spent the near six hundred dollars it would have taken to have bought the stolen goods in the first place, and drew the attention of a national news service in the process. Not being a lawyer, I can only guess that puts a little dent in the old “concealed identity” theory. Clever disguise notwithstanding, it seems to me somebody, somewhere, somehow suspected the state meeting it’s “burden (of proof)” was lurking just around the next banging of the gavel.
Let’s face it. We like to see (other) people get what’s coming to them. Don’t we? We live in a world that seems to be captivated by the entertainment value that watching judgment pronounced seems to provide. The People’s Court, Divorce Court, Judge Judy and the ilk are counted as great sources of amusement. And how many of us didn’t watch at least part of the OJ Simpson trial? If memory serves, lots of folks involved with that particular fiasco would’ve done a great public service if they’d worn boxes.
If you'd be kind enough to indulge me in a bit of accommodative language, please let me suggest that some "trials" are not as amusing as others.
“And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comesjudgment,” (Hebrews 9:27 NASB)
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” (Revelation 22:12)
Kinda sounds like a day when some other folks could be wishing for a box or anything else they might hide behind, doesn’t it?
On that day there won’t be any “reaching of agreement” and the “burden of proof” will be met by our own testimony. “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”(Matthew 12:36,37 NASB); “and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.” (Revelation 20:13b)
The closest many will get to a “concealed identity” will be to hear Jesus say to them, “I never knew you,” (Matthew 7:23) and hearing the words, “depart from Me.” (Matthew 7:23) will cause the “entertainment value” and “amusement” of this particular "trial" to be lost, gone, and forever forgotten.
The Lord’s judgment is serious, it’s severe, it’s sure, and it could come before you finish reading this. Would you be ready if it did?
