Who says God and court can't mix?

When a young man told Baltimore Circuit Judge Gale E. Rasin this morning that he had "made a promise to God" that he would not smoke marijuana anymore, the judge at first appeared annoyed that the suspect was listening to a higher power, but not to her.

After all, the man was before her pleading guilty to violating the terms of his probation on a marijuana charge by smoking marijuana.

"I can't talk about such a lofty authority," Rasin told the man. "In this earthly world, you have to answer to me."

But then Rasin saw an opening. "I have a great idea," she exclaimed, as she set the man's next court date, a status hearing on his probation, for April 10 -- Good Friday. "You wouldn't dare lie to me on Good Friday, would you?

"No ma'am," he answered. "Thank you so much judge."

Raisin extended his probation by one year but didn't send him back to jail. The hearing in Circuit Court this morning exposed the usual flaws in the criminal justice system and prompted some interesting exchanges between judge and suspect.

The man was attending counseling and school, and was showing up for meetings with his probation agent but had missed calling in every day. He explained he was given three numbers and none of them worked. Rasin couldn't disagree; she had tried to reach his probation agent before his last hearing several months ago and couldn't get through, and when she finally did reach someone, she left a message that was never returned.

So she had to rely on the suspect's interpretation of how well he was doing, in which he surprisingly omitted a key detail -- that he had tested positive for smoking marijuana. "Why did you lie to me?" the judge asked, finally posing a question that drew laughter, "When is the last time you smoked a blunt?"

He said he hadn't been told about the positive test, which seems to make sense given even the judge couldn't get through to his agent.

Rasin became even more exasperated at the end of the hearing when she asked the representative from the state Parole and Probation agency, who recommended the man be sent back to prison, to identify the man's agent. The first name wasn't right because she was on maternity leave. The second name offered wasn't right either because he had been transferred. There was no third name.

Rasin didn't want to release the man until it was all sorted out. "Let's get him someone to report to who is actually there," she said.