Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Playing God? Texas Jury Consulted Bible Before Sentencing Man to Death
Share and save this post:
AlterNet Social Networks:
Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form
This post first appeared in PEEK.
Last week I wrote about Texas Governor Rick Perry's craven attempts to cover up proof that he signed off on the execution of an innocent man. Crazy, yes? But crazier than a pack of jurors who consult the Bible before deciding whether to sentence someone to death?
Khristian Oliver, 32, is set to be killed on 5 November after jurors used Biblical passages supporting the death penalty to help them decide whether he should live or die.
Amnesty International is calling on the Texas authorities to commute Khristian Oliver's death sentence. The organization considers that the jurors' use of the Bible during their sentencing deliberations raises serious questions about their impartiality.
A U.S. federal appeals court acknowledged last year that the jurors' use of the Bible amounted to an "external influence" prohibited under the U.S. Constitution, but nonetheless upheld the death sentence.
Apparently, this "external influence" included the following passages from the Old Testament, some of which were read aloud in the jury room:
"The murderer shall surely be put to death"
"And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, the murderer shall surely be put to death."
"The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer."
(That last one, I assume, was determined to be logistically unfeasible.)
According to Chris McGreal in the Guardian, "another juror, Michael Brenneisen, told a journalist in 2002 that he asked himself 'Is this the way the Lord would decide the case?' But Brenneisen also said that in discussing the Bible the jury 'went both directions in our use of the scripture -- forgiveness and judgement.'"
"McHaney said there were about four Bibles in the jury room."
Some opponents of the death penalty argue that societies have no business "playing God" by making judgments about who deserves to live or die. In this case, this is precisely what the jury seemed to believe was the task at hand.
For more on this case, go here.
Liliana Segura is a staff writer and editor of AlterNet's Rights and Liberties and World Special Coverage.
| Also by Liliana Segura | ||||
| Out-of-Control Rick Perry Overrides Rare Clemency Vote, Executes Man Who Killed No One The TX Board of Pardons voted to spare the life of Robert Lee Thompson, who took part in a robbery that led to a murder. The killer is serving life. Perry chose to kill him anyway. November 20, 2009. |
Limbaugh Calls Palin Memoir "One of Most Substantive Policy Books I've Read" Here's what to read instead. November 13, 2009. |
Is It Cruel and Unusual to Sentence Teens to Die In Prison? The Supreme Court is hearing two cases today that will affect the fate of more than 2,500 people sentenced to life without parole as teenagers. November 9, 2009. |
CNBC Reporter: NYC Marathon Winner Not Really American, "He's Like a Ringer You Hire to Work a Couple Hours at Your Office" For the first time since 1982, a U.S. citizen won the New York City marathon. For sports writer Darren Rovell, "it's not as good as it sounds." November 3, 2009. |
In the U.S., Veterans Come Home From War Only To See Relatives Executed By the State "I can go fight in another country to uphold peace and liberty ... but I can't uphold peace, liberty, and equality for my own brother." October 27, 2009. |
EMAIL
PRINT
93 COMMENTS
PERMALINK