Khristian Oliver - TX - 11/5/09

[Jeff1857]

Condemned killer says Bible helped jury decide his death sentence


By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

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.

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Just another smokescreen.

[Jeff1857]

MEDIA ADVISORY, March 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and attorneys with the Foundation for Moral Law argued in an amicus curiae brief filed today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that a Texas jury's consultation of Bible passages during death-penalty sentencing deliberations did not taint the jury in violation of the 6th Amendment.  The Foundation argued in the case, Oliver v. Quarterman, that a jury's use of the Bible is a natural occurrence since a jury has historically reflected the diversity of the community from which it is drawn, including members who consider the Bible an integral part of their faith and morality.  (Read the legal brief here.)

Judge Roy Moore, a former Alabama circuit court judge before he was Chief Justice, said about this important case:

"For centuries, the name of God and the sacredness of the Bible in the courts have traditionally served as powerful reminders of the standard of truth and justice to which judge, jury, and defendant alike are accountable.  To suggest that the Bible and religious references should now be banned from jury deliberations is not only a subversion of the purpose of a citizen jury, but it reflects yet another attempt to sequester God and His law from our courtrooms and justice system."

In the Oliver case, convicted murderer Khristian Oliver argues that his death penalty sentence should be overturned because several jury members brought Bibles and consulted a scripture verse or two in the deliberation room.  Oliver argues that the mere reference to Bible passages tainted the proceedings and rendered the jury "impartial," in violation of the 6th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Foundation, however, explains in its brief that juries are an essential and historic check by the people on government power and, as such, comprise a cross-section of the community.  To banish the Bible, religious references, and the people that hold biblical values dear from the jury room would deprive our juries of that considerable portion of the citizenry that look to the Bible for comfort, wisdom, and moral judgment.  A "Bible-free" jury would not reflect the communities of this country and would, in effect, establish a reverse religious test to qualify for jury service.

The Foundation asks the 5th Circuit court to reject Oliver's desperate claims as constitutionally, historically, and logically baseless.

The Foundation for Moral Law is a non-profit, religious-liberties organization located in Montgomery, Alabama, dedicated to restoring the knowledge of God in law and government through litigation and education relating to moral issues and religious liberty.
 


 

[Michael]

A federal appeals court has ruled that East Texas jurors wrongly used a Bible during deliberations in a capital murder case, but that there isn't enough evidence to show they were prejudiced when they decided to send a Waco man to death row for fatally shooting and bludgeoning a 64-year-old man.

The ruling from a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes in the case of Khristian Oliver, condemned by a Nacogdoches County jury in 1999, a year after authorities said he and three companions were involved in the break-in and slaying.

Oliver's three accomplices received prison terms ranging from five to 99 years. He got the death penalty, and in his appeals lawyers contended jurors improperly consulted Scripture that called for death as punishment for murder.

"The jury's use of the Bible here amounts to a type of private communication, contact or tampering that is outside the evidence and law," the New Orleans-based court said.

But the appeals court, in a ruling posted late Thursday, said it didn't see enough evidence to overturn decisions from Oliver's trial court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that upheld the jury verdict.

"As Oliver has not presented clear and convincing evidence to rebut the state court's finding that the Bible did not influence the jury's decision, we cannot say that the jury's use of the Bible had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict," the 5th Circuit said.

The court last year upheld Oliver's conviction and denied his request for a federal evidentiary hearing on the Bible-related claims but agreed to consider arguments on the matter.

At issue was a passage 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 referring to an "iron rod" as the weapon.

The victim in the case, Joe Collins, was shot and then struck with the barrel of a gun, which Oliver's lawyer said could be likened to an iron rod.

"You could say God and Moses anticipated this exact thing if you take a literal view of it," Winston Cochran said, discussing the case late last year. "And that's got a lot of potential for mischief."

Cochran could not be reached Friday. A voice mail prompt at his phone would not take a message.

Prosecutors had argued there never was an implication jurors voted based on Scripture or had any kind of religious discussion.

Collins went out to pick up a hamburger for dinner in 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.

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 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 Bibles in the jury room and gave varying accounts, ranging from one Bible to several being present. One juror testified they had them because they would go to Bible study following court proceedings. Another said 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.

"There is contradictory evidence regarding whether the jurors' consultation of the Bible occurred before or after the jury reached its decision," the appeals court said. "Several jurors testified that the Bible was not a focus of their discussions."

The court also noted the trial judge had instructed jurors to not refer to or discuss anything that wasn't in evidence, and that the jurors brought the Bibles on their own and without the knowledge of the judge.

Oliver does not have an execution date.

http://www.examiner.com/a-1539005~Death_sentence_upheld_despite_Bible_in_jury_room.html

[iamjumbo]

this stupidity was just another example of the ignorance hallucinated by appellate attorneys to cloud the issues.

[Aussie4DR]

I had an interesting thought while reading through some of these posts...
With many parts of the world now rapidly becoming multicultural societies, is there a view (or law) regarding the introduction of a different religious text into the courts?
What would happen if, say, 3 muslims were to be on a jury and they brought the Qur’an into deliberations?
The more I pondered this scenario, the more troubled I became.

Thoughts/facts people?

[Eryn Baugh]

I had an interesting thought while reading through some of these posts...
With many parts of the world now rapidly becoming multicultural societies, is there a view (or law) regarding the introduction of a different religious text into the courts?
What would happen if, say, 3 muslims were to be on a jury and they brought the Qur’an into deliberations?
The more I pondered this scenario, the more troubled I became.

Thoughts/facts people?

Yeah....I can just imagine that one!  "What?  You are not going to cut off his hands when he stole?  JIHAD!!!"

[Jeff1857]

HOUSTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a challenge from a Texas death row inmate who claimed his constitutional rights were violated by jurors who consulted a Bible.

In the appeal, Khristian Oliver's defense said jurors reviewed a biblical passage stating that a murderer who used an iron object to kill "shall surely be put to death." Jurors were deciding whether to sentence Oliver to death for shooting and bludgeoning his victim with the barrel of a gun.

The court previously has said jurors should base their verdicts only on evidence presented in the courtroom.

State and lower federal courts upheld Oliver's death sentence, despite testimony that some jurors in the Nacogdoches County case consulted the biblical passage.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year said jurors wrongly used the Bible but said there wasn't enough evidence to show they were prejudiced when they decided to send Oliver to death row in 1999.

Oliver's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to review the case, and the high court Monday refused.

"It's a big disappointment," attorney Winston Cochran said. "With a life at stake, I think they needed to be a little bit more open-minded."

Oliver, 31, from Waco, was condemned for the slaying of Joe Collins, 64, during a March 1998 break-in at Collins' rural East Texas home. Three of Oliver's companions received prison terms ranging from five to 99 years.

At issue was a passage 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." Some translations refer to the weapon as an "iron rod."

Collins was shot and then struck with the barrel of a gun, which Cochran said could be likened to an iron rod.

Prosecutors had argued there never was an implication jurors voted based on Scripture or had any kind of religious discussion.

Defense lawyers interviewing jurors after Oliver's capital murder trial discovered jurors had had Bibles with them. But at a hearing, jurors gave differing testimony on whether there was one Bible or several present and on what their purpose was. One said any reading from the books came after they had reached a decision.

"There is contradictory evidence regarding whether the jurors' consultation of the Bible occurred before or after the jury reached its decision," the 5th Circuit said in its ruling in the case. It said that Oliver's appeal failed to present clear evidence that the Bible's use "had a substantial and injurious effect."

Collins was slain when he returned to his home to find Oliver, then 20, and 16-year-old Benny Rubalcaba inside. Two other companions were waiting outside.

As Oliver and Rubalcaba tried to run away, Collins got a rifle and shot Rubalcaba in the leg. Oliver fired his pistol at Collins, then grabbed the man's rifle and beat him with it. Evidence -showed Collins was shot five times and suffered multiple skull fractures.
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Another cert denial from the Supremes.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6382790.html

[Granny B]

"It's a big disappointment," attorney Winston Cochran said. "With a life at stake, I think they needed to be a little bit more open-minded."


How open minded was Oliver when he was robbing and killing 64 year old Joe Collins?  Joe Collins had worked hard for his property and money all his life.  Collins had the expectations of keeping what he had worked for, and living in his own home unmolested by 4 murdering thieves.  Collins life was the one at stake here, not Oliver's.  Collins had already been murdered by the thieving bastards.  Why should Oliver have any consideration at all?  He had absolutely none for Collins!

I notice frequently that those who murder others, are pretty  darned COWARDLY.  They sure don't want to die for their crimes.  After they murder someone, and spend a little time on death row, they become anti death penalty for themselves.  But it seems they still believe in the death penalty for those they killed or those they want to kill in the future.

True sociopaths with no redeeming qualities.  But with lots of anti death penalty groupies.  How come these groupies don't fall in love with the victims?  Oh that's right!  The victims are the reason their favorite murderer is in prison and facing execution.  It is all the victim's fault because they had the nerve to die. (tongue in cheek here)

[vikkiw47]

This has to be the most asinine and crazy thing i have ever heard.

[Michael]

Execution date set for Khristian Oliver

An execution date has been set for a Nacogdoches man convicted of capital murder more than 10 years ago.

Khristian Oliver, 31, will be executed Nov. 5, 2009, following his conviction in the 145th District Court in 1999. Judge Campbell Cox signed an order on June 29 scheduling the execution following District Attorney Nicole LoStracco's request.

Oliver was convicted and sentenced to death April 22, 1999, for the shooting death of Joe Collins, 64. Collins found Oliver and Sonya Fawn Reed burglarizing his home on March 17, 1998. Collins retrieved his rifle, though Oliver shot Collins with a pistol and used Collins' gun to beat him, according to court documents. Reed was convicted of engaging in organized criminal activity and sentenced to 99 years in prison. Two accomplices, Bernardo and Lonnie Rubalcaba, waited in a car outside Collins' home. Both men were convicted, and they were sentenced to five and 10 years respectively.

Oliver appealed the verdict because jurors consulted a Bible during punishment deliberations. A passage in the book of Numbers states a man who kills another man with an iron rod should be put to death. A Texas appellate court ruled the jurors' use of the Bible was inappropriate but did not overturn the conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an additional appeal earlier this year.

Oliver can seek clemency from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles no later than 21 days prior to the date of execution, LoStracco said. The Board can deny the request on its own authority or can forward the request to the governor, who is free to permit or reject the execution.

"Having a date set for the defendant's execution is a significant step forward in bringing this case to a close," LoStracco said. "I hope that this will begin to give some measure of closure to the family of the victim."

http://www.dailysentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/07/09/misc_khristianoliver_071009.html

[kubsch1]

How about the rest of the Bible:  Thou shalt not kill!  An eye for an eye.  He can be forgiven not forgotten or excused!  Ring his bell!

[Jacques]

In 1999, 20-year-old Khristian Oliver was sentenced to death after being found guilty of murder. In the local Christian district, the fact that biblical language was invoked by the court when it handed down the sentence was never questioned. “An eye for an eye” was the term used in the judges ruling.

AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!!!

............ burglarizing the home of a 64-year old man......... Oliver shot him in the face with a 380-caliber handgun. He was also beaten around the head with the butt of a rifle.



Best

Jacques

[Anne]

Playing God with Khristian Oliver
posted by Peter Rothberg on 10/27/2009 @ 4:04pm

This post was written by Nation intern and freelance writer Andrea D'Cruz.

Ten years ago Khristian Oliver was convicted of murder: during a burglary in March of 1998, Joe Collins, whose house was being robbed, arrived home. As the two burglars attempted to flee, he shot one of them. The other burglar, the then-20 year old Oliver, shot Collins before striking him in the head with a rifle butt, according to testimony at Oliver's April 1999 trial.

After the trial, it emerged that jurors had consulted their bibles during sentencing deliberations -- something that the US Constitution specifically prohibits as "external influence." In a post-trial hearing later in 1999--the year of the sentencing--the judge was told by four jurors that several Bibles had been present in the jury room, that highlighted passages were passed between jurors, and that one read passages to other jurors. But the judge did not allow the defense to ask questions pertaining to the influence of the Bible's presence on the sentencing.

One of the jurors deliberating Oliver's sentence even identified a passage in the Bible that almost precisely described the crime. "And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer," he read aloud to the Texan jury. And then: "the murderer shall surely be put to death."

The jurors did indeed sentence Oliver to death and his execution is set for November 5. On the basis of the divine intervention on the sentencing process, which created an unfair and partial jury, Amnesty International has issued an urgent appeal stating: "Even supporters of the death penalty will agree that no one should ever be executed if there is any suggestion of any unfair trial. Khristian Oliver's trial wasn't just unfair; it was a travesty."

Last year the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, while conceding that the presence of the Bible was wrongful and an "external influence" prohibited under the Constitution, said there wasn't enough evidence to demonstrate that it had prejudiced the jury. Oliver's lawyer blamed the presiding judge: "We were prohibited from asking the question we were later being asked to prove."

The answer to that question was given in an interview in 2002 by a Danish journalist with a fifth juror. He divulged that "about 80 per cent" of the jurors had "brought scripture into the deliberation", and that the jurors had consulted the Bible "long before we ever reached a verdict." Had he been told that he couldn't consult the Bible, "I would have left the courtroom", the juror declared. He described himself as a death penalty supporter and life imprisonment as a "burden" on the taxpayer and disclosed his belief that "the Bible is truth from page 1 to the last page" and that if civil law and biblical law were in conflict, scripture should prevail. This good article in the Guardian has further details about the extent to which the jurors relied on a faith-based process to determine their sentence.

In 2005 the state supreme court in Colorado overturned a death penalty on a convicted murderer because the jurors had turned to the Bible while deliberating over his sentence. However, decisions relating to these kinds of cases have been inconsistent and so, earlier this year 46 former federal and state prosecutors urged the Supreme Court to hear Oliver's case to resolve this issue. In April the Supreme Court refused.

AI is demanding that, "the Texan Board of Pardon and Paroles should now instruct the state governor to commute Mr. Oliver's death sentence and indeed he should himself stay the execution if the board fails to act" and is urging people in the US and around the world to send appeals today.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/actnow/489225/playing_god_with_khristian_oliver

[tpgisgay]

How many times have these same people (antis mostly) tried to use the bible to get people off of death row. It would not surprise me in the least if Oliver had been sentenced to life that this would not have even been brought up post conviction. The defense was playing the odds that thee bibles being used (yep, the defense knew about it during deliberation, but failed to mention it until after) were going to get Oliver off. It did not work. They cannot have it both ways. Also interestingly enough, there has not been too much talk about this on the typical anti websites.

[vikkiw47]

Don't people still have to swear on the Bible before taking the stand. Or did they do away with that?