More lawyer bullshit
But they could watch "Pulp Fiction" and "Natural Born Killers" at any time...?
Ohfercryinoutloud! How much more ridiculous can this get?? If there were atheists, Muslims, or whatever among this jury, nothing required them to agree with 5 Christian jurors quoting scripture!
Absolutely amazing...
I'm speechless.
We ordained therein for them: "Life for life, eye for eye, nose or nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." But if any one remits the retaliation by way of charity, it is an act of atonement for himself. And if any fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (No better than) wrong-doers. Sura al-Maida 5:45 (Yusuf Ali's translation)
Not a bright move by the jurors.
Nothing to see here...move along...I mean there has been an earthquake thousands of miles away and we are anxiously awaiting the tsunami....forget about judicial tyranny, etc....there are more important things going on half way around the world.
Sounds like it's time to pull out the jury nullification classbook.
"No your honor, we don't believe murder is a just charge nor is the law that forbids it.
The law does, after all find it's way to us from the Bible and ... well ... your honor, someone might think killin' is wrong.
Can't let that happen, now can we judge?"
Who told the Colorado Supreme Court to fear the Word of God?
I would have rather seen a mistrial than overturning the death sentence. Although upholding his death sentence would be most appropriate.
Terri has committed no crime, but MUST DIE for her non crime! Had she killed someone before she collapsed, she'd be a liberal saint! They'd be praying to statues of her right now!
And I'll bet it won't really be life without parole either.
I guess jurors don't have 1st Amendment rights now?
This is just one more bit of evidence that jury service is an enormous waste of time, which is why I haven't answered a jury summons in years.
Did these people ever hear of the rule of jury nullification? It means that the jury is the final say on all matters. They cannot legally throw out a jury's ruling. A ruling can be overturned because of something that did or did not happen in the courtroom, new evidence, police procedures,etc., but it cannot legally be thrown out because of how the jury arrived at its verdict.
This has nothing to do with the 1st Amendment. Jurors are not allowed to bring in outside materials when deciding on a case.
Thou shall not murder? OMG, we can't have that in our courts!
I am more troubled by this.
Secret deliberation means just that.
How did the defendant's attorneys "discover" anything?
Related to this, any juror who writes a book about a case he has served on should be prosecuted. The only time jury deliberations are relevant outside a jury room is if what is clearly a crime has been committed.
This is outrageous. The judges involved should be removed from the bench immediately. This is out and out religious BIGOTRY. No other word for it.
We want trial deliberations to be guided by the Koran, Bhagavad Gita, etc. ? I don't think so. Our constitution gives us BOTH freedom of religion and freedom from government bias regarding religion. Religious doctrine belongs within the domain of individuals, families and churches not in government activities such as the courts.