Forgiveness doesn’t come easy for the wrongly convicted!

Maurice Carter was a dear and gentle soul, and he carried no anger with him when released from prison after serving 29 years for a crime he did not commit. But he struggled with this idea of forgiveness. 

He had a problem trying to forgive Wilbur Gillespie, who lied to police telling them that Maurice was the perp, in order to avoid major prison time for a drug arrest. 

He had a problem trying to forgive off-duty police officer Tom Shadler, victim of the crime, who could not identify Maurice as the perp until two years later when his photo appeared with the notice of his arrest on the front page of the newspaper. 

And I know he would struggle to forgive the crooked cops who framed him, an inept defense attorney who could have won, and the prosecutor who not only got a guilty verdict, but helped keep him behind bars for 29 years. 

Years later, when I formed an organization called INNOCENT, which later became HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS, Marcia asked me how many people I knew who had been wrongly convicted. I started a list and quit after I had written down about 20 names. And these were not the names of thugs. The list included doctors, teachers, businessmen, industrialists, cops and even attorneys. 

Many were people whom I knew personally, or whose family and loved ones I knew. 

I can tell you that, for most of them, the thought of forgiveness hardly entered their minds. 

Yet, on this Good Friday, it’s important to quote the words of Jesus, the ultimate example in the history of mankind of a victim wrongfully convicted, then wrongfully executed! As he was dying, he said this about the soldiers carrying out the execution: 

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” 

I’m not trying to be judgmental today. I’m not saying that, had I been wrongly convicted, I could forgive. 

But, I like these thoughts from philosopher C JoyBell C: 

“People have to forgive. We don't have to like them, we don't have to be friends with them, we don't have to send them hearts in text messages, but we have to forgive them, to overlook, to forget. Because if we don't we are tying rocks to our feet, too much for our wings to carry!” 

I’m thinking about the many, many men and women falsely accused and wrongfully locked up on this Good Friday. I’m also thinking about the healing element of forgiveness. 

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

― C.S. Lewis