Posted on 05/04/2009 10:56:22 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
OGDEN — Questions about "blood atonement" in an upcoming murder trial over a shooting at a wedding reception apparently will be hashed out at a July court hearing.
During a hearing Monday in 2nd District Court, Judge Ernie Jones weighed in on various motions involving Riqo Mariano Perea, 21. Court records indicate the judge ruled against a defense request to declare the death penalty in Utah unconstitutional. A stipulation was reached, court records said, on a defense motion to keep Mormons off of the jury.
Defense attorneys filed a motion on "blood atonement" claiming that a belief among some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that the only way to receive true forgiveness from God after committing a serious sin is to shed one's own blood. Defense attorney Sharon Sipes previously said that although the church has indicated blood atonement isn't part of official doctrine, members widely believe it.
The court records indicate that the topic will be addressed in the upcoming jury questionnaire, which was submitted to the court on Monday and will be addressed again at a July 2 court hearing.
Jones also expressed concern that the case is nearly two years old and hasn't been set for trial yet, and also set a deadline for Weber County prosecutors to decide if they'll use evidence of any uncharged crimes against Perea.
Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against Perea in connection with a 2007 shooting that left two people dead and others wounded when a man in an SUV drove up to an Ogden home and began firing into a crowd of about 30 people. Ogden police have said the shooting was gang-related.
(Excerpt) Read more at deseretnews.com ...
Related thread (same trial):
Defense enters motion to suppress confession in murder trial
"The firing squad tradition is rooted in Mormon custom, which holds that blood must be shed for the crime of murder to be appropriately punished. Utah is the only US state to continue the practice, although it has done so just twice since capital punishment was reintroduced by the Supreme Court in 1976."Related threads (blood atonement & LDS):
See also this thread, for some religious background on the concept of "blood atonement" in LDS history:
Brigham Young on the Insufficiency of the Blood of Christ
If I recall correctly, ‘blood atonement’ may have figured into the Mountain Meadows Massacre. And it wasn’t Mormon blood.
Wow! Another Mormon Attack Thread where some individual’s antics are used to generally attack The Church. You guys need to get a life.
Blood atonement as a defense in a double homicide? ROFLOL!
I’m not attacking anybody. I merely pointed out something I’d read in a history book. And, unless I’m wrong the Mountain Meadows Massacre; [1] Occurred, [2] was carried out by members of the Church of Latter Day Saints, and [3] According to the book, may have involved the theory of ‘blood atonement’, inasmuch as the book’s author claimed the doctrine pertained to persons over the age of 8 or 12 [I forget which], and the only members of the Fanner [?] party who weren’t murdered were under that age.
Interesting. On what do you base the Haun’s Mill Massacre? Would that be Protestant greed?
They need to get a life...but does ANYONE think they ever will?
It would be foolish to claim that the 240 militia men, the County of Caldwell, the County of Livingston, or the State of Missouri responsible for the heinous massacre were all "Protestant", were acting under the authority of a specifically "Protestant" organization, or that the murders they committed that day were carried out using a peculiarly "Protestant" methodology.
What was that you said earlier about this being an "attack thread"?
Pretty typical posts. The same old general tone that “Mormons are evil and all protestants are good” baloney. Nothing new here.
If you had bothered to read the article, OMM, you would know that it is not a defense, but a motion the defense is using to get the death penalty off the table.
I read it. It is a garbage argument.
I agree it is a lame excuse, but the fact remains that many LDS do believe that the death penalty in Utah is “blood atonement”. Many of the prisoners do as well. Years ago I worked for the head shrink at Point of the Mountain, read many reports of those on death row who wanted firing squad for ‘blood atonement’ purposes.
Whether or not it is ‘official doctrine’ anymore, it is still part of LDS ‘lay theology’.
Good to see you back, I was worried about you and afraid something had happened. How ya feelin?
The firing squad tradition is rooted in Mormon custom, which holds that blood must be shed for the crime of murder to be appropriately punished.
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That’s unConstitutional...
I remember a huge uproar when Utah did away with firing squad. Several inmates argued that removal of the firing squad option was a violation of their freedom of Religion since their blood could not be shed by lethal injection.
the Mountain Meadows Massacre; [1] Occurred, [2] was carried out by members of the Church of Latter Day Saints, and ...
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and was motivated by hatred and greed...
The Francher wagon train had many thoughbred horses, a large herd of cattle, a large amount of valuable belongings, and a small fortune in cash...
The mormons stole it all...
Finding anything possible to tear down any Church that I don’t agree with?
Nope, better things to do.
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Tell me again about my belief in the Trinity ????
The Bear River Massacre
The Circleville Massacre..
Would those just be mormon racism against the Indians ???
Men, women and children, and tiny babies...
Heads chopped off, put on posts...
What about the thousands of lynch mobs all across the nation that your preachers of the mainstream either did not stand against or preached for? How many people were murdered there?
What trinity is that? Something in the Bible?
How many people were murdered there?
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Less mormons were ever killed by Chri8stians and other non-mormons than the total amount of Christian men women and children and babies who were murdered at the Mountain meadows massacre...
Many many more mormons were murdered by the Avenging Angels, Joey Smith’s gang of cut throats, AKA the Danites...
Plus Brigham Young caused the deaths of hundreds of immigrants from Europe that he forced to WALK 1,300 miles in the dead of winter, no food, clothes, shelter. pushing hand carts because he was too greedy and stingy to provide them with the horses and wagons and gear that the “saints: in Utah had paid already for...
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