Juror's Use of Biblical Verses Does Not Invalidate Death Sentence

In Fields v. Brown, (Dec. 8, 2005), the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and reinstated the death sentence for Stevie Lamar Fields who has been on death row since 1979. UPI yesterday reported on the part of the decision involving church-state issues. A lower court had ruled that a foreman's use, and sharing with other jurors, of notes on Biblical passages was not permissible during jury deliberations in the penalty phase of Field's trial. The Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that at least some of the Biblical verses were not extrinsic factual material, but instead were common knowledge. As to others, the court said that it was not shown that they had a substantial and injurious effect on the verdict.