Tuesday, December 1st, 2020
Shawn murdered a young woman in cold blood and had been on death row for two years awaiting his execution.
He was as guilty as guilty could be and had great remorse for what he had done. His appeals to escape the death penalty would run out sometime in the next year and then would come the end for him, as surely as Wednesday follows Tuesday.
One day in a court hearing for Shawn’s seventh appeal, a custodian in shabby clothes showed up and said he’d confess to the murder. The judge said, “That’s foolishness. You were nowhere near the crime scene.” Shawn said, “No, I’m the guilty one, not you.”
Now there was a law in the land that if someone pleaded guilty to someone else’s crime, even though innocent, that person would take the place of the guilty criminal. The custodian quoted that law from memory and said, “Though I am not guilty in any way, yet I will stand in for Shawn.”
“This is very unusual,” said the judge. “I’m aware of that law, but no one has ever invoked it before. There is one additional stipulation, however: Shawn must agree to let you stand in for him.”
Shawn saw the custodian looking right through him with a love that brought tears to his eyes. What could he do? He melted and said, “Yes, I accept that arrangement. I don’t deserve it, but I agree to it.”
That very same day, Shawn walked out of prison a free man. The custodian was executed the next day.