It's been a little more than two weeks since a Caldwell County jury found Johhny Marlowe guilty on one count of child abuse but could not come to an agreement on a second count of the same charge, thus ending in a mistrial.

I, for one, have a hard time seeing how one lone juror held out on the count of child abuse that led to no jail time for the man who admitted to circumcising two of his sons with a utility knife.

That particular juror, in a note read to the courtroom by the presiding judge, indicated that "nothing will change his/her mind."

I'm sorry, but the fact that an untrained individual tried to circumcise an innocent child with a box cutter without the use of any kind of anesthetic or painkiller should be proof enough.

Marlowe, who represented himself during the trial, admitted to performing the acts to the children as well as himself, telling the jury that the "Holy Spirit pressed him to do it, and if pressed to do something, you have to do it."

I'm not sure that God would ask us to harm a child in such a way, to inflict pain and suffering upon a defenseless newborn. Sure, He asked Abraham to take Isaac on the mountain and offer him as a sacrifice, and obediently, Abraham readied his son for God's call only to have the Lord spare Isaac after seeing the faithfulness displayed by Abraham.

I'm of the opinion that biblical story is not the same as what Johnny Marlowe did to these newborn babies.

The mothers of the children testified that the infants screamed in pain, and one of them bled for 11 hours. They also told the jury that Marlowe put a 60-watt desk lamp bulb near the child, hoping to stop the bleeding, even strapping the child to a bed to keep it from moving.

And that's not grounds to find the man guilty? His admission to performing such acts is not proof enough?

The charges were pretty much the same, and yet Marlowe only was found guilty on one of them. And he was found guilty only of misdemeanor child abuse in that part of the trial. It just seems like cutting on an innocent child should be a little more serious crime than a misdemeanor.

Marlowe was given the maximum time behind bars for the crime - 150 days - though its seems like it should be more for harming a child. That sentence will be added to the end of the current 12-year, 8-month sentence he is serving for assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, assault on a female, communicating threats, assault on a child under the age of 12 and kidnapping, though he already has filed a notice for appeal on the convictions.

I've tried time and time again to figure out how a person could not find this man guilty and have come up with no answers. Let's just hope that this does not happen again to anyone, especially a child so small that he/she can not defend himself/herself.

Nathan Key is editor of the News-Topic. He can be reached at 828-758-7381, ext. 313, or by e-mail at nathankey@newstopic.net.