Emphasis Preaching Journal

It had been a long and difficult case -- murder cases often were. But this one was especially tough. The victim had been a 30-year-old man who was the father of two young children. A gang member had broken into the house and, in the process of a robbery, had killed him. The youngest child, a 2-year-old boy, was asleep when it happened. But Tiffany, the 6-year-old daughter, had been awakened by the sound of breaking glass when the break-in occurred. She had stood at the top of the stairs and looked down as the 16-year-old boy stabbed her daddy time after time.

When the time finally came for the court hearing, the judge cleared the courtroom for Tiffany to testify. Only the defendant and his attorney and the district attorney were in the room with the judge and jury. The gallery was emptied.

"Do you know why you are here?" asked the judge.

"Because that man killed my dad. I saw him."

The defense attorney objected.

"You'll get your turn," said the judge.

Tiffany went on to tell her story.

When the defense attorney cross-examined her, he asked her lots of questions. "Weren't you scared? Couldn't you have been mistaken in the dark?"

But at all of this Tiffany stayed consistent. "That's the man. I saw him kill my dad."

And because of her eyewitness account the jury convicted the man.