Christian Lawyer Disturbed by Colorado Convict's Re-Sentencing
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
March 30, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Christian attorney finds it disturbing that Colorado's highest court has upheld a lower court's decision to throw out the sentence of a man who was given the death penalty because members of the jury consulted the Bible while considering their verdict.Ten years ago Robert Harlan was found guilty of raping and murdering a cocktail waitress near Denver, Colorado. A jury subsequently sentenced him to death; but afterward, defense lawyers learned that, during the deliberations, five jurors had looked up Bible verses, including allusions to punishment meted out "eye for eye, tooth for tooth." The jurors had copied out the biblical passages and discussed them while deliberating behind closed doors.
The defense attorneys argued before the state Supreme Court that, by consulting the Bible, the jurors had improperly gone outside the law to reach their verdict. The jury had been instructed to consider only evidence presented in court.
With a 3-2 vote, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in favor of the defense, deciding that the reading of the Bible passages could influence a typical juror to vote for the death penalty. The justices threw out Harlan's capital sentence and ordered the convicted murderer to serve life without parole.
Mat Staver is president of Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit litigation, policy and education organization that works to advance religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and the traditional family. He disagrees with the Colorado court's decision to throw out Harlan's original sentence simply because some of the jurors consulted a Bible.
Mat Staver | |
In fact, Staver notes, "In many of our court decisions, courts have actually referenced the Bible." Moreover, he points out that Sir William Blackstone, a famous English jurist and law professor whose ideas helped shape European and American law, was not above referring to scripture in forming his legal opinions. "And Blackstone was the most influential individual in framing new, young lawyers as they were developing," the attorney adds. "They read from Blackstone's Commentaries."Staver refers to the respected British legal scholar's historic, four-volume treatise, Commentaries on the Laws of England, which American courts often quote as the definitive pre-Revolutionary War source of Common Law. Even the Supreme Court of the United States has frequently referenced the well-known author's ideas in discussing precedents that hark back to the foundations of American jurisprudence and the intent of the framers of the U.S. Constitution.
But while so many in the U.S. courts and legal profession look to the famous jurist's ideas for guidance, Staver says the professor himself often looked to God's Word. "Blackstone, in his Commentaries, sometimes refers to biblical texts as a basis for law," the lawyer says.
At any rate, the head of Liberty Counsel insists that the jurors in the Colorado case did not in any way violate Harlan's right to a fair trial by reading the Bible. "Though it's very unusual," the attorney says, "I think it would be very distressing for the founders [of American law and government ] to think that simply because you referenced the Bible, that your verdict had to be tainted somehow and therefore could not stand."
Staver notes that during Harlan's trial, his defense attorneys urged jurors to consider Bible verses that highlighted mercy and grace. He says the court's decision to throw out the death penalty for a convicted murder and rapist, in light of the facts, is disturbing.
