Judge Dusty Deschamps has described himself as a devout Roman Catholic. As a devout Roman Catholic, Judge Deschamps follows the tenets and creeds of the Roman Catholic Church. In a recent sentencing hearing for Autumn Heinz, Judge Deschamps sentenced Ms Heinz to a 20 year commitment with the Department of Corrections and restitution in the amount of $461,000.00. He also made the following comments in a written decision: “You seem to be on the right track, and I don’t see any point in locking you up just to punish you . You’re going to have to carry this cross the rest of your life.”
Comments like these betray a belief about the origin of suffering. While it may allow Judge Deschamps to make religious sense of pain, it is in the end a devastating lie against the very identity of God. St. John Paul II, in his encyclical Salvifici Doloris, clearly reaffirmed the Church’s constant teaching that suffering is always an evil. Let that sink in for a minute. Suffering is ALWAYS an evil. It does not have its origin in God. God, in His mercy, works all things to good, including evil (Romans 8:28). In his written decision, Judge Dusty Deschamps, through his use of religious references in his judicial decision-making and through his proclaimed catholicism, sentenced Ms Heinz to a life time of suffering, hence evil. Judge Deschamps won’t sentence her to prison but rather he sentences her to his own religious belief.
Where it’s not necessarily wrong to refer to some problem we are having as a “cross” we must bear, in Jesus’ day, a cross was a symbol of suffering. According to St. John Paul II suffering is always evil.
But Jesus meant something far deeper than this when He told His disciples to carry their cross. He said to them, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). In Jesus’ day, a cross wasn’t just a symbol of pain and suffering; it was mainly a symbol of death. What Jesus was telling them is that they needed to put to death their own plans and desires, and then turn their lives over to Him and do His will every day.
Judge Deschamps is actually sentencing Ms Heinz, in accordance with his own religious belief, that she needs to carry her cross, turn her life over to Jesus and do His will every day. If Ms Heinz had been Jewish, Muslim or Buddhist would he have injected his intolerant religious beliefs? Would he tell the Jewish person, the Muslim or the Buddhist to pick up the cross of Christ? He can’t discriminate judicially based on religion, so my answer would be, yes, he would tell the non-christian to pick up the cross of Christ.
Missoula prides itself on its’ inclusiveness, tolerance and acceptance of all. Judge Robert L. “Dusty” Deschamps does not embrace the ideals of Missoula. The use of religious references in judicial decision-making jeopardizes the integrity of the criminal justice system and, if not proscribed, encourages further use of the Bible by judges and other officers of the court.
Does Missoula really need the intolerant judicial decisions of Judge Deschamps? If Missoula really believes in tolerance, inclusion and acceptance of all, Missoula needs to rid itself of this intolerant religious judge.