Consulting the Bible to Execute a Man
Khristian Oliver
Texas is no stranger to criminal executions. Since the death penalty was re-instated in 1976, 34 states have killed 1,175 inmates. Texas leads the way with 441 of those deaths with Virginia behind them with a mere 103 executions. So it’s not surprising then that a state which has contributed 38% of the total executions would want to execute Khristian Oliver.
Khristian Oliver, 32, was sentenced to death in 1999 after being convicted of murdering the owner of a home whom he was burgling with three other people. The 64-year-old victim surprised Oliver, who then shot the victim in the face with a 380-caliber handgun. Afterwards, Oliver beat the man over the head with the butt of the gun.
However, new information has been released concerning the jury’s deliberation on whether or not to give Oliver the death sentence: jurors consulted the Bible. Four jurors have admitted that several copies of the Bible with highlighted passages had been in the jury room and had been passed around.
One juror even read aloud from the Bible, including the passage: “And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.”
During appeals, defense lawyers argued that the jury had been improperly influenced by the Bible. The judge dismissed the claim, and the Texas appeals court has upheld that decision.
News of the decision reached Amnesty International UK director, Kate Allen who said that Oliver’s case was a “travesty,” and continued by stating, “Religious texts provide consolation and spiritual guidance for billions of people the world over, but this use of the Bible to decide life or death in a capital trial is deeply, deeply troubling.”
The U.S. is meant to be a secular nation where church and state are separated. Consulting a Bible when deliberating whether or not a man should live or die is a violation of the separation of church and state clause.
In 2005, a similar case happened in Colorado where the state supreme court overturned a death penalty sentence because jurors had consulted the Bible. The court had ruled that the Bible gave an improper outside influence and a reliance on a higher authority.
However, there is no such luck for the Oliver case.
Last year, the case was taken to federal appeals court which ruled that while the Bible should have not been allowed in the deliberation room, there was no clear evidence to support that jurors made their decision solely based on the Bible. In April, the US Supreme Court refused to hear Oliver’s case.
Khristian Oliver is set to die on November 5, 2009 by lethal injection. It's just too bad that jurors only read the parts about murdering murderers instead of forgiving others, but those passages probably weren't highlighted.
Sources:
Texas Man Faces Execution
Offender Information: Khristian Oliver
U.S. Executions since 1976
