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Article: Ninth Circuit OKs jury's use of the Bible in death penalty deliberations.
- Article from:
- Trial
- Article date:
- December 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 American Association for Justice, formerly Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA®). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has rejected a California death row inmate's claims that the jury's consideration of biblical passages about capital punishment during sentencing deliberations violated his Sixth Amendment rights. (Fields v. Brown, 2007 WL 2580788 (9th Cir. Sept. 10, 2007).)
"It is wrong to consider [the Bible] at trial, let alone in a death penalty case," said David Olson, the Los Angeles attorney who argued the inmate's habeas appeal before the court.
Stevie Lamar Fields has been on California's death row for 28 years, since a jury convicted him in 1979 for the robbery and murder of a student librarian and for crimes ...