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Verse:“Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.” —Exodus 23:7, NIV
Sometimes a lack of conclusive evidence can lead to unfair verdicts. That was the case with Nicholas Yarris. After several months of anticipation, on July 1, 1982, he was convicted of murder, rape, and abduction and was sentenced to death.
Yet, he continued to claim his innocence.
Once forensic DNA testing became available, Yarris’s case was reexamined, and on September 3, 2003, the court exonerated Yarris of the charges based on the conclusive results. After a few additional issues were cleared, he was finally freed from prison in 2004 after spending twenty-two years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. As a death-row inmate, Yarris had every reason in the world to become angry and simply give up on life. For fourteen years, he was not allowed to hug another human being and experienced sensory deprivation. However, he was “made strong out of weakness” (Hebrews 11:34, ESV) and used his time to educate himself by reading thousands of books. He learned German and studied psychology to better understand himself and those around him. He has since shared his life-changing experience with many people around the world. Four weeks after leaving prison, Yarris gave an insightful interview in which he stated, “The act of finding sanity in the house of insanity is humility. You have to let go of all the ego; it gets stripped away from you, and then you try and resurrect something from whatever you find, whatever you have left. You have to try and find that one good thing inside yourself that is everything to you, and try and build on that.” And more, “Despite everyone’s expectations of bitterness and anger or the inability to let go of what happened to me, I am focusing on all the good things. I am a good man now and I want the world to know that people can be redeemed. People can change.” In the book of Revelation, the souls of the martyrs are metaphorically calling for God’s justice (Revelation 6:9, 10).
Even if His vindication does not occur as quickly as we would like, by God’s grace, we should complain less, do what we can to build our faith, and try to gain strength from even the most disastrous circumstances.