Saul
Comes now the story of Saul.
Saul was an ordinary man who lived an ordinary life as a salesman. What he sold is not important. As he returned home one evening, he found a group of police officers at his front door waiting for him. The officers said he was under arrest for the murder of a man who lived two streets over.
Saul protested his innocence and said he was working all day. The police said there was a witness who put him at the scene. Despite Saul’s pleas, he was arrested and charged.
Because the murder was particularly heinous in this case, prosecutors sought the death penalty. Saul was completely devastated.
While in the recreation yard in the jail, the sun visited Saul and told him that while he could fight the charges, he would lose. It would be best, the sun told him, to plead guilty and ask for leniency. Angry, Saul told the sun he would fight the accusation.
Saul’s attorneys did not seem to be of any help. He kept telling him that he was innocent but they said they were having a hard time proving his innocence. They suggested taking a plea for life in prison without parole. Saul told them that was the same, if not worse, than the death penalty.
The progression to trial was a slow march full of hearings where lawyers would get up and spout Latin terms that he did not understand. Clerks would shuffle around a vapid courtroom stamping papers and putting documentation in files. The judge would make pronouncements about whether a piece of evidence was admissible or that a witness would be allowed to testify.
Saul was numb to it all. The whole process seemed so mundane and normal. Yet he knew that the bureaucracy had a devious end, to kill him.
During a hearing before jury selection, the judge in the case asked Saul’s attorney a question about whether the jury should be sequestered during trial. As his attorney was about to speak, Saul blurted out that it did not matter whether they were sequestered. The judge rebuked Saul and said he was speaking out of turn. Saul continued to rant about the case, declared his innocence and condemn the entire proceeding.
The judge warned Saul that his outburst could land him in jail. This enraged Saul and he looked at the judge and bitterly said that the government could only kill him once for his alleged crime. The judge began to yell at Saul and declared that he was being disrespectful to the court.
At that point, Saul grabbed a gun from a nearby bailiff and then pointed it at the judge. He warned everyone in the courtroom that if they came close to him, he would kill the judge. Once the courtroom was quiet, Saul looked at the judge and told him that while he and the attorneys were arguing and debating about the merits of the case, it was Saul’s life who was on the line. It was obvious, Saul said to the judge, that he was likely going to be put to death and all of the proceedings were simply a prologue to his execution.
The judge responded meekly that he, the clerks, the lawyers and the police were simply doing their job. Saul told him that they were working to kill him and he did not have to be respectful to anyone trying to kill him.
The judge pleaded with Saul to put the gun down. Saul said that he would, if only the judge would admit that while he’s supposed to be an impartial arbiter of justice, he wanted to see Saul executed. The judge denied it at first but eventually admitted that, yes, he felt Saul should be put to death.
Saul looked at the judge and grinned and then told the judge that he would save everyone the trouble. Defying the law and defying the gods, Saul turned the gun towards his head and pulled the trigger.