Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

March 22, 2013

According to a ruling by the New Mexico State Supreme Court, ?The law ? calls upon the citizen to exercise patience, if illegally arrested, because he knows he will be brought before a magistrate, and will, if improperly arrested, suffer only a temporary deprivation of his liberty.?

New Mexicoresident Stephen Slevin can testify that this assurance is a cynical lie.

In 2005, Slevin was stopped for driving under the influence. The police suspected that he was driving a stolen car, which had actually been lent to him by a friend. At the time, Slevin was battling depression. He was put into a special cell reserved for people suspected of being suicidal. After three days, he was transferred to solitary confinement --- where he remained for two years.

The habeas corpus guarantee requires that anyone arrested by the police be quickly brought before a judge and either formally charged or released. Slevin was never given a judicial hearing. Nor was he given medical attention by his jailers. He was literally left to rot in his cell until relatives inquired into his case.

After being released, Slevin was awarded a $15.5 million tax-funded civil settlement ? and nobody has been held accountable for the two years of torture he endured.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.