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Christian Taliban: Texas Jury Uses Bible to Justify Death Sentence
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
sent by mart - Jan 4, 2008
[So much for the supposed 'separation of church and state'.
"There was a time when the church ran everything. We now call that
period in history the 'Dark Ages.' " -unknown
- -mart]
AP via The Houston Chronicle - Dec 30, 2007
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5411300.html
Condemned killer says Bible helped jury decide his death sentence
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press Writer
LIVINGSTON, Texas " Nearly a decade after an East Texas man was gunned
down during a burglary of his home, the death sentence of the Waco man
convicted of the slaying remains under scrutiny because jurors at his
trial had Bibles with them when they decided he should be executed.
Khristian Oliver, now 30, was condemned by a Nacogdoches County jury in
1999, a year after authorities said he and three companions were
involved in the break-in of the home of 64-year-old Joe Collins, who
was shot and beaten.
Oliver's three accomplices received prison terms ranging from five to
99 years. He got the death penalty and in his appeals lawyers are
contending jurors improperly consulted Scripture that called for death
as punishment for murder.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month upheld Oliver's
conviction and denied his request for a federal evidentiary hearing on
the Bible-related claims, but agreed to consider written arguments on
the matter and then hold oral arguments.
"This is headed toward a showdown on a very fundamental question on the
use of the Bible," Winston Cochran, Oliver's lawyer, said.
Cochran had until the end of December to present written briefs to the
court. Prosecutors will then have an opportunity to respond. Oral
arguments before the New Orleans-based court are not likely until later
in 2008.
"I'm really surprised the 5th Circuit has got much interest," said
special prosecutor Sue Korioth, who handled the initial appeal to the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which upheld the conviction and death
sentence. "I think the Supreme Court ruled on this years ago, that you
can't tell people to leave their values at the door.
"Unless there's a suggestion they used religious law as opposed to the
Code of Criminal Procedure and the instructions the judge gave them,
but that wasn't an issue in this case."
At issue is a verse in Chapter 35 of Numbers which, in the New American
Standard Bible, reads: "But if he struck him down with an iron object,
so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to
death." Other versions of the Bible have similar passages, some of them
referring to an "iron rod" as the weapon.
"This poor old farmer, he got shot and when he was lying outside on the
ground, he was struck with the barrel of a gun," Cochran said. "So he
was literally struck with an iron rod.
"You could say God and Moses anticipated this exact thing if you take a
literal view of it. And that's got a lot of potential for mischief."
Korioth said there never was an implication jurors voted based on
Scripture or had any kind of religious discussion.
"Several of them carried Bibles in and out like my daughter carries her
"Seventeen" magazine," she said. "It was just their reading material."
Judges at the 5th Circuit, in their ruling Nov. 16, asked lawyers to
explain whether the jurors' consultation of the Bible amounted to "an
external influence that raises a presumption of prejudice."
Collins went out to pick up a hamburger for dinner the evening of March
17, 1998, and returned to his rural home to find Oliver, then 20, and
16-year-old Benny Rubalcaba inside. Rubalcaba's 15-year-old brother and
Oliver's girlfriend were outside waiting in a pickup truck.
As the two intruders tried to run away, Collins got a rifle and shot
Benny Rubalcaba in the leg. Oliver fired his pistol at Collins, then
grabbed the man's rifle and beat him with it, evidence showed.
One of the teenagers later would say he saw Oliver swinging the rifle
at Collins like a golf club and then like an ax. The fatal wounds to
Collins' head and face left him nearly unrecognizable and with severe
skull fractures.
Evidence showed Collins was shot five times by Oliver with at least two
of the shots fired while the man was laying on his back on the ground
outside his house.
"He basically blew his head off," Korioth said.
A neighbor found Collins dead in the front yard. Collins' hamburger was
still in a bag on the front seat of his pickup truck.
The wounded Rubalcaba, taken by his friends to a hospital, eventually
told police details of the attack. Oliver, who was tied to a series of
burglaries over a year and a half mostly around Waco, was arrested in
Houston with his girlfriend.
Defense lawyers interviewing jurors after Oliver's capital murder trial
discovered jurors had Bibles with them during deliberations.
At a state district court hearing two months after the trial, four
jurors testified about the presence of Bibles in the jury room and gave
varying accounts, ranging from one Bible to several being present. One
juror testified he and fellow jurors carried the books with them
because they would go to Bible study in the evenings following the
day's court proceedings,
Another juror testified any reading from the books came after they had
reached a decision. A third said the reading of Scripture was intended
to make people feel better about their decision.
"What do you expect them to say?" Cochran said. "Some judge is scowling
at them. Are they going to come in there and say they've just ruined
your five-week death penalty trial?
"It's error, absolutely error. To me, if there's any doubt about it,
you ought to either just commute the guy to life or do a new punishment
hearing. The sensible thing would be to commute it to life."
Oliver is at a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison where
inmates undergo treatment for psychiatric conditions and could not be
interviewed.
The trial judge, and then the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the
state's highest criminal court, upheld his death sentence and attorneys
took the case into the federal courts. A federal district judge in
Beaumont two years ago upheld the sentence and denied Oliver's claims
about prejudicial Scripture use, sending the case to the 5th Circuit.
(c) 2007 The Associated Press
=================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Our main website: http://www.blythe.org
List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================
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Hash: SHA1
Christian Taliban: Texas Jury Uses Bible to Justify Death Sentence
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
sent by mart - Jan 4, 2008
[So much for the supposed 'separation of church and state'.
"There was a time when the church ran everything. We now call that
period in history the 'Dark Ages.' " -unknown
- -mart]
AP via The Houston Chronicle - Dec 30, 2007
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5411300.html
Condemned killer says Bible helped jury decide his death sentence
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press Writer
LIVINGSTON, Texas " Nearly a decade after an East Texas man was gunned
down during a burglary of his home, the death sentence of the Waco man
convicted of the slaying remains under scrutiny because jurors at his
trial had Bibles with them when they decided he should be executed.
Khristian Oliver, now 30, was condemned by a Nacogdoches County jury in
1999, a year after authorities said he and three companions were
involved in the break-in of the home of 64-year-old Joe Collins, who
was shot and beaten.
Oliver's three accomplices received prison terms ranging from five to
99 years. He got the death penalty and in his appeals lawyers are
contending jurors improperly consulted Scripture that called for death
as punishment for murder.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month upheld Oliver's
conviction and denied his request for a federal evidentiary hearing on
the Bible-related claims, but agreed to consider written arguments on
the matter and then hold oral arguments.
"This is headed toward a showdown on a very fundamental question on the
use of the Bible," Winston Cochran, Oliver's lawyer, said.
Cochran had until the end of December to present written briefs to the
court. Prosecutors will then have an opportunity to respond. Oral
arguments before the New Orleans-based court are not likely until later
in 2008.
"I'm really surprised the 5th Circuit has got much interest," said
special prosecutor Sue Korioth, who handled the initial appeal to the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which upheld the conviction and death
sentence. "I think the Supreme Court ruled on this years ago, that you
can't tell people to leave their values at the door.
"Unless there's a suggestion they used religious law as opposed to the
Code of Criminal Procedure and the instructions the judge gave them,
but that wasn't an issue in this case."
At issue is a verse in Chapter 35 of Numbers which, in the New American
Standard Bible, reads: "But if he struck him down with an iron object,
so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to
death." Other versions of the Bible have similar passages, some of them
referring to an "iron rod" as the weapon.
"This poor old farmer, he got shot and when he was lying outside on the
ground, he was struck with the barrel of a gun," Cochran said. "So he
was literally struck with an iron rod.
"You could say God and Moses anticipated this exact thing if you take a
literal view of it. And that's got a lot of potential for mischief."
Korioth said there never was an implication jurors voted based on
Scripture or had any kind of religious discussion.
"Several of them carried Bibles in and out like my daughter carries her
"Seventeen" magazine," she said. "It was just their reading material."
Judges at the 5th Circuit, in their ruling Nov. 16, asked lawyers to
explain whether the jurors' consultation of the Bible amounted to "an
external influence that raises a presumption of prejudice."
Collins went out to pick up a hamburger for dinner the evening of March
17, 1998, and returned to his rural home to find Oliver, then 20, and
16-year-old Benny Rubalcaba inside. Rubalcaba's 15-year-old brother and
Oliver's girlfriend were outside waiting in a pickup truck.
As the two intruders tried to run away, Collins got a rifle and shot
Benny Rubalcaba in the leg. Oliver fired his pistol at Collins, then
grabbed the man's rifle and beat him with it, evidence showed.
One of the teenagers later would say he saw Oliver swinging the rifle
at Collins like a golf club and then like an ax. The fatal wounds to
Collins' head and face left him nearly unrecognizable and with severe
skull fractures.
Evidence showed Collins was shot five times by Oliver with at least two
of the shots fired while the man was laying on his back on the ground
outside his house.
"He basically blew his head off," Korioth said.
A neighbor found Collins dead in the front yard. Collins' hamburger was
still in a bag on the front seat of his pickup truck.
The wounded Rubalcaba, taken by his friends to a hospital, eventually
told police details of the attack. Oliver, who was tied to a series of
burglaries over a year and a half mostly around Waco, was arrested in
Houston with his girlfriend.
Defense lawyers interviewing jurors after Oliver's capital murder trial
discovered jurors had Bibles with them during deliberations.
At a state district court hearing two months after the trial, four
jurors testified about the presence of Bibles in the jury room and gave
varying accounts, ranging from one Bible to several being present. One
juror testified he and fellow jurors carried the books with them
because they would go to Bible study in the evenings following the
day's court proceedings,
Another juror testified any reading from the books came after they had
reached a decision. A third said the reading of Scripture was intended
to make people feel better about their decision.
"What do you expect them to say?" Cochran said. "Some judge is scowling
at them. Are they going to come in there and say they've just ruined
your five-week death penalty trial?
"It's error, absolutely error. To me, if there's any doubt about it,
you ought to either just commute the guy to life or do a new punishment
hearing. The sensible thing would be to commute it to life."
Oliver is at a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison where
inmates undergo treatment for psychiatric conditions and could not be
interviewed.
The trial judge, and then the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the
state's highest criminal court, upheld his death sentence and attorneys
took the case into the federal courts. A federal district judge in
Beaumont two years ago upheld the sentence and denied Oliver's claims
about prejudicial Scripture use, sending the case to the 5th Circuit.
(c) 2007 The Associated Press
=================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Our main website: http://www.blythe.org
List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================
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