Man executed in Texas after jurors turned to the Bible to determine whether he should die

When Khristian Oliver stood trial for murder in Texas 10 years ago, several jurors consulted the Bible extensively during their deliberations.  Despite the court of appeals ruling that an 'important line' had been 'crossed', Oliver's appeal was dismissed and he was executed last week.

One of the jurors testified that about 4 Bibles were in the jury room. Key passages were highlighted and handed around among fellow believers. At one point, a juror reportedly read aloud from a copy, including the passage: "And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death." One of the jurors later confirmed that reference to scripture played a part in his deliberation. In his view, "the Bible is the truth from page one to the last page".

Did those religious, believing jury members cross an important line when they began looking up and discussing what they would have seen as "relevant" verses from an ancient text?

The US constitution calls for the separation of state and religion. In 2005, the state supreme court in Colorado overturned a death penalty on a convicted murderer because jurors had consulted the Bible while deliberating over his sentence. Commuting Robert Harlan's sentence to life imprisonment without parole, the court ruled that the Bible constituted an "improper outside influence" and a reliance on what it called a "higher authority".

In Oliver's case, defence lawyers argued in appeals that jurors had been improperly influenced by the Bibles and last year, the court of appeals for the fifth circuit said that these God-fearing jurors "had crossed an important line" when they searched for guidance in scripture. It was, said this federal court, a more "egregious" example of this than had occurred in other jurisdictions. But federal appeals courts are extremely chary of overturning state courts' decisions. Oliver's appeal was dismissed and the US Supreme court declined to clarify review the case. Governor Rick Perry, which has been refusing consistently to review controversial cases,  also refused to grant his pardon.

In Texas, the old saying "no-one is above the law" does not apply; God is above the law. And so, it seems, are those who believe themselves to be obeying his word.