Jurors use Bible to condemn Texan prisoner

A man facing execution in three weeks was convicted by a jury that consulted a Bible during their deliberations, it has emerged.

Amnesty International UK said 'serious questions' must be raised about the impartiality of jurors that quoted scripture in reaching their decision.

Khristian Oliver, 32, is due to be executed on November 5th having been sentenced to death in 1999 for a murder committed during a burglary.

Amnesty has learned from four jurors that several Bibles were present in the jury room, with passages highlighted and passed between them.

One juror even stood up to quote the text directly, saying: '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.'

Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen said that while religious texts provided consolation and spiritual guidance, it was 'deeply, deeply troubling' for the Bible to be used in a matter of life and death.

'Even supporters of the death penalty will agree that no one should ever be executed if there is any suggestion of any unfair trial,' she said. 'Khristian Oliver's trial wasn't just unfair, it was a travesty.

'The Texas board of pardons 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.'

Texas is one of 35 states to retain the death penalty in the US, where 37 people were executed last year; putting the country behind only China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Since 1976 the US has executed 1,175 people, while 138 people have been exonerated while on death row since 1973.

There are currently 358 inmates, including ten women, awaiting execution in Texas.