U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court Turns Down Case of Bible-Consulting Jurors
Posted Apr 20, 2009 9:56 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a death-row inmate’s claim that his constitutional rights were violated when jurors consulted a Bible during deliberations.
The case, Oliver v. Quarterman, is the second turndown by the court this term that involved jurors consulting the Bible, SCOTUSblog reports. In both cases, the defendants were convicted in Texas.
In the latest case of inmate Khristian Oliver, jurors reviewed a biblical passage that said a murderer who used an iron object to kill “shall surely be put to death,” the Associated Press reports.
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Comments
B. McLeod
Apr 20, 2009 10:14 AM CST
Technically, the gun barrel was steel, so the consulted verse was not really on point, but, it doesn’t really matter. Certainly, if the jury had been of a mind to, they could have found a verse suggesting mercy. It seems pretty clear they had decided which way to go, and looked for a verse that said that was good. You have to understand that this was Texas, where the Bible says anything and everything, from God hating the United Nations to God not hearing the prayers of non-Christians. The Bible only tells Texans to kill when they’ve already decided they want to do it. Sometimes in Texas, they skip the whole “Bible” step, and God directly, verbally tells someone to kill (and in Texas, defendants have been known to claim this as a legal defense).
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