The Ninth Commandment

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.


The 9th commandment, don’t tell lies. At least this is how most people read this or think about this commandment. Of course this is true of the statement, but, I find it interesting how God stated this. He has stated this in such a way as if it were a court room and you are testifying. The wording seems to indicate more the idea of false accusations, not just lying in general (which is still wrong).

Jeanine Nicarico (born July 7, 1972) was kidnapped, raped and murdered in Naperville Illinois on February 25, 1983. Her body was found later in a wooded area. Rolando Cruz, Alejandro Hernandez and Stephen Buckley were indicted in March 1984. It was a horrible crime that the public demanded justice for.

In 1985, Richard Dugan confessed to the crime as he sat in jail already for the murder of a 7 year old girl and a 27 year old woman. This confession was dismissed and the trial of Rolando Cruz carried on (Buckley had been cleared). False and misleading testimony led to Cruz’ conviction.

For the next 10 years the family of the two convicted men were turned upside down as they spent all that time trying to overturn this wrong that had been done. The Nicarico family too could never put the murder of their daughter behind as this continued as an ongoing issue years afterwards.

In 1994 the verdict was overturned again. During the third trial, a sheriff's lieutenant who had provided key evidence at the original trial reversed his testimony and admitted he had lied under oath, DNA test also eliminated Cruz and his co-defendant, Alejandro Hernandez as the contributors of the semen found at the crime scene and implicated Brian Dugan. On November 3, 1995, a DuPage County judge acquitted Cruz on the basis of recanted testimony, the DNA evidence, and the lack of any substantiated evidence against Cruz. Again the Nicarico family was without justice for the loss of their daughter.

Seven DuPage County law enforcement officials, three prosecutors and four deputies, were indicted by a grand jury in December 1996 on 47 charges of comspiracy to convict Cruz despite being aware of exculpatory evidence. In April 1999, the trial of the "Dupage Seven." began, and ultimately all seven officers were found not guilty by Judge William Kelly. However, a civil suit brought by Cruz, Hernandez and Buckley was settled by DuPage County for $3.5 million in autumn of 2000. In November 2005, Dugan was indicted for the Nicarico murder.

Bearing false witness wrought untold pain and horror for nearly 2 decades on the lives and families lives of the people involved in this case and cost millions of dollars. The lives and families of the people who bore false witness have been destroyed. Even unknown lives were effected such as my families. Richard Dugan had killed my uncle back in the late 80’s.

Lies are not innocent and can have devastating costs in peoples lives. The case I have mentioned here have effected literally thousands of lives. It even led to changes of policies of our state government that even had notice taken worldwide with a moratorium that was put on the death penalty by our now jailed governor. It’s easy to see why God does not want us to bear false witness.