Injustice for all

The gap between what is legal and what is right is often wide.  The letter of the law may be met while a terrible injustice is committed. The Sunday Review section of the Times this week contained three accounts of complete failures of the American justice system. 

Just one of these should make people angry.  Three is almost overwhelming, and indicates a breakdown of our judicial system and our sense of common justice.  Here is a quick summary:

1.  “Fatal Mercies,” by Frank Bruni, details the story of Pottsville resident Joseph Yourshaw, 93, a decorated World War II vet who suffered from severe diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease.  He was terminal, in pain, and receiving hospice care.  His daughter, Barbara Mancini, was helping to care for him.  

On Feb. 7 he swallowed a large amount of morphine in the presence of his daughter, who had handed him the vial.  When the hospice nurse came by, Mr. Yourshaw was unresponsive.  She called 911, the medics arrived, took Yourshaw to the hospital, and revived him against his earlier expressed wish.    He died in the hospital four days later.

Ms. Mancini is now charged with aiding a suicide, a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office is in charge of the prosecution.

2.  “After Guantanamo, Another Injustice,” by John Grisham, details the case of Nabil Hadjarab, a 34-year-old Algerian who grew up in France.  He was one of the people arrested for bounty money, put in Bagram prison, beaten by U.S. soldiers, eventually transferred to Guantanamo, tortured, and held for the past 11 years.  He has never been charged with a crime.

Grisham says Mr. Hadjarab will probably be among a group of detainees released in Algeria.  He will have no money.  He won’t get an apology for 11 years of mistreatment by our government.

3.  “Help Thy Neighbor and Go Straight to Prison,” by Nicholas D. Kristof, tells of Edward Young, age 43, of Tennessee.  Young had done time for burglary, but he turned himself around, married, worked six days a week, and raised four kids.

His neighbor, a widow, asked Mr. Young to help sell her husband’s belongings.  When he was sorting through them, he found 7 shotgun shells.  He put them aside, so his kids wouldn’t find him.  

When police were looking for suspects for area burglaries, they searched his house, found the shells, and now Young is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney William Killian under the Armed Career Criminal Act, which bars ex-felons from possessing guns or ammo.  Mr. Young, by the way, does not have a shotgun to go with the shells. If Young is convicted, he will serve a minimum of 15 years.

I want to stress that these three articles appeared on the same day, Aug. 11.  In each case--Ms. Mancini, Mr. Hadjarab, and Mr. Young--the authorities are acting in the name of “the people.  In each case what they are doing is terribly wrong.