Death sentence to be meted out in Texas today

A man sentenced to death in the USA after a jury consulted the Bible to decide his fate is now only hours away from execution, as calls continue for the governor in the state of Texas to intervene to prevent the execution.

Thirty-two-year-old Khristian Oliver is set to be executed at 6pm Texas time (12 midnight GMT) in the Huntsville prison in Texas on November 5.

In the state the Board of Pardons and Paroles has the power to recommend that the governor commute a death sentence, which it has not so far done. However, the state governor Rick Perry can still issue a stay of execution (and request that the paroles board reconsider its decision if it is a negative one).

Amnesty International has issued an 'urgent action' appeal (www.amnesty.org.uk/deathpenalty) and its supporters are calling on Governor Perry to intervene.

Khristian Oliver was sentenced to death in 1999 for a murder committed during a burglary. While deciding whether he should live or die, jurors at his trial consulted copies of the Bible in a highly selective, including texts supporting the death penalty, calling into serious question their impartiality.

Though Christians, they ignored the teaching of Jesus.

In a post-trial hearing four jurors acknowledged to the judge that several Bibles had been present in the jury room, that highlighted passages were passed between jurors, and that one juror read aloud the following passage from the Bible to a group of fellow jurors: '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.'

However, the trial judge ruled the jury had not acted improperly, a view upheld by a Texas appeals court.

Further revelations have followed. In 2002, a journalist interviewed another juror who said that 'about 80%' of the jurors had 'brought scripture into the deliberation', and that the jurors had consulted the Bible 'long before we ever reached a verdict'.

He said he believed 'the Bible is truth from page one to the last page' and that if civil law and Biblical law were in conflict the latter should prevail. He also said that if he'd been told he could not consult the Bible: 'I would have left the courtroom'. He described life imprisonment as a 'burden' on the taxpayer.

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: "The governor must intervene to try to preserve the reputation of Texas and see that justice is now done in this case."