Playing God? Texas Jury Consulted Bible Before Sentencing Man to Death

Posted by Liliana Segura, AlterNet at 12:30 PM on October 16, 2009.

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?

From Amnesty International:

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.

Tagged as: texas, death penalty, bible, rick perry, capital punishment, khristian oliver, book of numbers, playing god

Liliana Segura is a staff writer and editor of AlterNet's Rights and Liberties and World Special Coverage.