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Colorado Supreme Court Throws Out Death Penalty From Bible-Reading Jurors
By Steven K. Paulson Associated Press Writer
Published: Mar 28, 2005
Complete article
By Steven K. Paulson Associated Press Writer
Published: Mar 28, 2005
Complete article
It would seem a matter of conscience would be permitted where biblical authority is not. Those with religious faith may have succeded with silence.DENVER (AP) - The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday threw out the death penalty in a rape-and-murder case because jurors had studied Bible verses such as "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" during deliberations.
On a 3-2 vote, justices ordered Robert Harlan to serve life in prison without parole for kidnapping 25-year-old cocktail waitress Rhonda Maloney in 1994, raping her at gunpoint for two hours and then fatally shooting her.
The jurors in Harlan's 1995 trial sentenced him to die, but defense lawyers discovered five of them had looked up Bible verses, copied them down and talked about them while deliberating a sentence behind closed doors.
The Supreme Court said "at least one juror in this case could have been influenced by these authoritative passages to vote for the death penalty when he or she may otherwise have voted for a life sentence."