Protest

On Sunday about 300 people marched in Powhatan to protest the verdict in the shooting death of Tahliek Taliaferro. The jury's decision for "involuntary manslaughter" prompted widespread incredulity and anger.

Juries are sovereign. Outsiders do not know what transpires in the jury room; only those who attend a trial can appreciate body language and the effectiveness of the prosecution and defense.

To laymen, involuntary manslaughter suggests a barroom fight, or even some roughhousing, in which a participant dies after cracking his head on a corner or a step. The Powhatan crime featured a weapon -- a gun described in news stories as an "assault rifle" with an 83-round clip. A gun cannot rise up on a shooter unless the trigger is squeezed, and, in the case of a semi-automatic, squeezed and squeezed. Rifles are not independent agents.

In the Bible we read:

"Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed."

The words come from Isaiah, a prophet familiar with humanity's propensity to stray.