So, in case you were too busy with the ridiculous continuing fallout of Depp v Heard, or the serious fallout of Dobbs v Jackson WHO, Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted and sentenced to 20 years. Except it might be a mistrial. And, who knows, maybe another jury will find her not guilty, or maybe the government just won’t bother bringing charges.
I’m cynical about this case and you should be too! The initial attempt to convict Epstein of child molestation, back in 2006, was botched to a degree that beggars imagination – with the prosecutor undermining the witness, on the stand, in front of the grand jury! Epstein did no jail time after being indicted for soliciting prostitution. Then he has huge influxes of cash from unknown sources, and he spends his downtime recording domestic and foreign dignitaries (SEC, FBI, NSA, CIA apparently have no interest…). Then when the FBI DOES raid his property they just happened to have the wrong warrant and therefore couldn’t take sex videos with “[girl’s name] + [man’s name]” and so they just left them and countless incriminating photos there unattended. Shockingly, they disappeared! Aw shucks, the FBI REALLY wanted to investigate I bet…oh well. Then Epstein dies in prison, ostensibly of suicide. Then again, there are no cameras and no witnesses, but let’s just assume that the pedophile blackmailer just killed himself and there was nothing more nefarious involved at all. No reason to suspect anything untoward! And then…as far as the public are concerned, the trial just ends.
Of course, there is the inconvenient existence of Ghislaine Maxwell. And she’s indicted and convicted. She’s also, stunningly, refused to name names. Can’t imagine why…Oh well, I guess we’ll never figure out who Epstein’s clients were…just no way of knowing. Nope. Just better walk away. I mean, the fact that according to Acosta (the US Attorney who gave Epstein a sweetheart deal) Epstein “belonged to Intelligence” certainly doesn’t imply that he was getting protection from people high-up in government! And, I mean, it’s not like we have flight manifests, photos, and many, many women who will testify as to who, what, where, when, how, and why. Nope, case closed…Ah! If only the FBI had the correct warrant! Alas and alack!
As a pastor, as a theologian, as a father, as a citizen, this whole situation is deeply disturbing. There are major theological and spiritual implications when crime goes unpunished. Blood calls for blood and unpunished and unatoned sin are not only disgraceful, not only poisonous to the body politic, not only do they encourage and invite further corruption and evil, not only do they erode our corporate sense of trust and unity – but they bring about God’s judgment. And part of God’s judgment is Him ignoring evil. God gives us over to the evil we long for, or at least tolerate. When we refuse to care about injustice God stops intervening – He lets us go.
I know that the gears of justice turn slowly. I also believe firmly in the right to a fair trial by jury with the presupposition that all are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But this looks a lot more like a cover-up than the meandering course of justice. If we want to live in a just society we cannot permit anyone to be above the law, no matter how rich, powerful, or well-connected they are. If we want the blessing of God and wish to avoid His curses, then it is imperative that our justice system acquits the innocent and punishes the guilty – without fear or favor – that we all face equal justice under law.