Stephen's Challenge.

My sentiment is shared with countless others when I declare how shameful it is that some cultures still embrace the curtailment of civil liberties upon those who they supposedly govern and protect. I don't see the value at all in this type of practice. Yes, every culture needs rules and regulations for its people to follow. This is rightly just. It's when the rules and regulations become inhumane and downright wrong that we truly see the motivation of that government. It forces people of such cultures to become rebels. They risk their own lives to speak out against the tyrannical hold of their government's regime. The hierarchy are not bound by these rules. They commit any unjust crime they want and get away with it. How can this be a fair practice? Well, the concept of fairness does not exist in such places. It's primitive to say the least. While some countries realized this ages ago, others continue with their archaic practices. How can this ever be changed? The sad truth is that this change may have to be a drastic one. When you have enough people in any given culture reach a breaking point and become fed up with their way of life, they will join forces to resist and revolt. Governments have been overthrown in the past. I'm not sure how successful all the attempts were. What I am sure of is that their rebellious efforts were justified.

My freedom is more precious to me than a million diamond rings. I was born free and plan to stay that way. We are all born free, until that freedom imposes a so-called threat to the ones in charge. I pray for those who have had their freedoms stripped away, and to those who have never been free at all. It pains me to wonder what they must go through on a daily basis... If only there was a magic wand, I could wish it all away. But the reality remains...

I believe these times must play themselves out to see what side the tyrants land on when their worlds collapse, and they rule no more.

The following is a fictional story about the sudden loss of Freedom...

Stephen's Challenge

"Order in the court!" shouted the angry judge as she attempted to quiet the courtroom. Stephen Merchant, who just turned 47 was on trial for embezzlement, a crime that he said he did not commit. He claims he was set up by his employer and other colleagues to take the fall for a crime one of them committed. The evidence against him was a secret bank account in his name where over 1.3 million dollars was funneled into, and quickly vanished. Stephen had been in prison for 7 months awaiting this trial. He sat there beside his lawyer with an emotionless glare as the prosecutor ripped his character apart. If you were to look in Stephen's eyes you wouldn't see anyone. His soul was stark, it was missing. He had no reactions to what was going on in front of him. His skin was as pale as the winter landscape. His graying facial hair was ragged and unkempt. He gave the impression that he could snap at any moment. Like people say, "Watch out for the quiet ones." His silence was simmering, just waiting for someone to turn the heat up.

Inside the courtroom was of hoard of dedicated supporters. They were also having a hard time believing what the prosecution was alleging. Doubt was apparent and written across all their faces. Was Stephen capable of perpetrating this crime? Some say he is generally a nice guy and lacked the aptitude to be a criminal. Other's including his boss didn't know what to think. They were on the fence but seemed to lean toward giving him the benefit of the doubt. An onslaught of sighs and groans were frequently heard as the proceedings went forward. This was the last day of the week-long trial. Closing arguments would take up the remainder of the day.

The criminal complaint states that On October the 2nd 2018, the FBI raided the property of Clayton's Offshore Contracting to investigate missing money. They took with them stacks of files, several laptops and every ledger they could find. Three weeks later, Stephen was the lone person arrested. He was escorted from his home in Jupiter Florida to the county courthouse without incident. Stephen had been working for the company for over 10 years and was a project manager who oversaw about 40 employees. The feds found evidence on his laptop of redirecting client payments to an undisclosed bank account. What they couldn't find is what Stephen did or was doing with the money. His meager lifestyle remained the same. He didn't buy any lavish gifts. He didn't take any expensive trips. His spending history was moderate and normal. Stephen didn't exhibit the behavior of someone who has stolen almost a million and a half dollars. What the investigation did uncover is that the money had been converted into cryptocurrency which made it virtually impossible to trace the whereabouts of. All the transactions were made from Stephen's laptop, which meant all eyes were planted on him. Law enforcement felt he was good at covering his tracks, they didn't believe a word he said.

Mr. Merchant was retained in jail, citing he was a flight risk. The prosecution claimed that only Stephen knew where the money was. If he were to get out, he could access it and disappear. This was how they convinced the judge of pre-trial detention. "Innocent until proven guilty my ass!" From Stephen's perspective it should be the other way around. He thought about this on a daily basis and was upset with his lawyer for not being able to reverse the judge's decision about posting bail.

His wife was in the crowd and sobbed as his lawyer painted the picture of a law-abiding family man to the jury. His lawyer said that Stephen had a guilty conscious and would have caved in by now or pled guilty in the beginning if he in fact was responsible for the crime. On the flip side, the prosecutor continued to berate him, reminding the jury of how all the money was traced back to him and how he was the one in charge of billing these client contracts. Stephen claimed he didn't even know the password to the bank account in question but couldn't prove it. The prosecutor brought up things he did as a juvenile that was no longer valid or on his record. He also mentioned an incident when Stephen was in college, where he bought 300.00 worth of merchandise on a stolen credit card. Stephen claimed he didn't know the card was stolen. He said his roommate loaned him the card but didn't tell him it wasn't his. Either way he paid the money back. This was all they could dig up on him. Would it be enough to convict him though?

After the trial was over, the jury deliberated for 6 hours. They returned with the verdict the next day. The judge read it in silence, then handed it to the bailiff to officially read to the courtroom. The bailiff cleared his throat and began to read, "All rise for the Honorable Judge Tracy Lannigan... In the case of Stephen Merchant vs. The State of Florida, we the members of the jury find Stephen GUILTY of 1st degree embezzlement." The courtroom exploded in outrage. Several of Stephen's supporters had to be removed from the proceedings for verbally and physically flipping off the prosecutor, while a few others were removed for throwing objects at the jury. The judge shook her head in disappointment as she watched the officers restore order. After everything quieted down, she announced that formal sentencing would be in two weeks. Stephen was drenched in sweat. His face was flush with emotion. He began biting his bottom lip as he stared at the ceiling with severe angst. As he was led out of the courtroom, he shouted at the top of his lungs toward the jury, "I DIDN'T DO IT! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!" The guards took him right back to his dirty and desolate cell. This was a crime that could send him to prison for up to 30 years.

During the 14-day time frame, Stephen's wife became more despondent. She asked him several times if he did it, if he was guilty. Stephen became more and more agitated with her and the whole situation. He was facing jailtime and needed her continued support but now she was questioning his innocence. This arrest was a game changing event for Mr. Merchant. He often thought to himself all the things this was affecting in his life. His marriage was about to be in turmoil. His loss of job and wages, but most importantly, his loss of freedom. His basic freedoms were no more. He could no longer live the life he created for himself. Instead, he stayed locked up in a society of men strangers, all who have committed various criminal acts. Whether innocent or guilty, this place wasn't the answer for some of them. Stephen's lawyer told him that due to the amount that was stolen he had a zero percent chance of getting off with just probation. Before the trial, the defense and the prosecution offered him a deal where he would only face 2 years if he pled guilty and returned the money. If Stephen was guilty, he didn't give in. He was fully prepared to fight this thing till the end.

Three days before sentencing Stephen received a call from an FBI agent. They planned to meet at 2pm that day. He became horribly anxious, wondering if they were going to announce more charges, or keep pestering him about the money. At 1:45pm a guard came to his cell and led Stephen to a conference room on the other side of the courthouse. Inside the room was his lawyer, his oldest son, the judge and the agent. Stephen didn't know what was going, he could not read the looks on their faces. His son was texting on the phone and would barely look him in the eye. Once they were all settled in their seats, the agent stood up and began to speak. "Mr. Merchant, I need to inform you, that today... all charges will be dropped. You can thank your son."

Stephen reacted by swiftly standing up, but his lawyer grabbed his wrist and gestured him wait and be quiet. The agent continued with,

"Your son Evan came to us with evidence that your laptop was being used remotely. We were able to tie those instances to the manipulation of the crime. Do you know a Mr. Damien Adino?"

Stephen nodded then spoke with extreme concern,

"Yes! he was an I.T. guy that worked for us couple years ago. IT WAS HIM?"

The agent continued with, "Yes, we were able to see the first time he accessed your computer, he was working there that day and was probably helping you with something. He coded in a line of script to your hard drive on one of those occasions, giving himself access anytime he wanted. He continued to infiltrate your laptop even after he was let go from the company. This is how he was able to view upcoming and current jobs of yours. From the evidence we have, he intercepted at least 7 payments over the last 2 years without you knowing. He created an account in your name and transferred the money to Bitcoin with an alias we could connect him to. He is currently in custody and has admitted to ALL the charges."

Stephen's eyes were now wide open, he was looking around at everyone with a confused but thankful expression. He began breathing heavily as it dawned on him what this meant. He looked at the judge, awaiting some kind of confirmation. She had been constantly writing notes on her legal pad and barely looked up once. She turned to him, smiled and spoke,

"It's unfortunate that these things happen to innocent people. You, Mr. Merchant are free to go."

Stephen jumped out of the chair and ran over to his son and gave him the longest hug ever. The judge then directed the prison guard to take Stephen to processing where he could get his things.

20 minutes later, Stephen finally made his way to the courthouse lobby. His entire family was there to greet him with hugs and kisses. Out the corner of his eye he could see his boss Mr. Clayton standing by the entrance. The middle-aged man displayed a pleasant look on his face as he watched the Merchant's reunion. Stephen broke away from his family and walked over to where he was. They looked at each other with obvious relief, then Mr. Clayton spoke,

"I never thought for one minute it was you. I knew there had to be a reasonable explanation. You're my best employee! I'm hoping and praying that you're planning on coming back, soon...please!" Stephen cracked a smile and responded with,

"Can you believe that bastard put me through all this. I was starting to believe that I did do it. I just didn't know what I did with the money."

They both exploded in delirious laughter and shook hands. Stephen spent the entire next week with his family, recapturing all the joy he found in being with them. He returned to work the following week with a new outlook on life...

When all seemed lost, Stephan Merchant rightfully regained his freedom. This negative experience taught him some valuable lessons. He never paid much attention to what it's like to be free until this happened to him. Although he only lost 7 months of time. It was enough for him to realize and appreciate the things he can do and the changes he can make as a free man. Life returned to normal for him and his family. His son was the hero and was encouraged to consider going into law enforcement for his role in helping to solve his dad's case.

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I give personal thanks to organizations like The Innocence Project. Their massive efforts have led to the freedom of individuals who were wrongly convicted of crimes which led to the loss of their freedom.

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No one should ever be able to dictate how your life should be led. No one should ever have the power to uproot a culture and turn it upside down. I feel for the Ukrainian people and the tortuous tribulations they find themselves in. The very person or persons who can direct such an assault should be held accountable and face the consequences of their own despicable wrong doings.

Let's pray for the freedom of all mankind. Individual freedom is the single most important attribute for the evolution and progress of the human race.