2 big State Supreme Court Rulings in CO today: Auman & death penalty

[Democrats_win]

The police had an ironic involvement in both cases.

Lisl Auman was sitting in a police car while a cop was murdered, but she was convicted for his murder--the conviction was overturned today.

The other case overturned a death penalty conviction in which the killer, Robert Harlan, in a car chase, chased a young casino worker and a good samaratan to the steps of the Thornton police department severely wounding the good samaratan before he kidnapped, later raped and killed the other woman. The death penalty was overturned because the jury "consulted Bible passages--including a verse comanding 'eye for eye...."

For or against the death penalty, Robert Harlan was a really bad person.

Death penalty:
http://9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=eaa46432-0abe-421a-01f2-77b6b49fec10&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

Lisa Aulman
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2786257,00.html

[eleny]

1. I heard she may get another trial and he'll get life instead of execution

[Democrats_win]

2. That's right.

[MissMarple]

3. Thank God! Lisl Auman does not deserve life in prison for murder.

The law she was convicted under is either too broad or was misused. IMHO, that is. She deserves a new trial.

[politicat]

4. Harlan was a bad person. And 40 years of rape and abuse is appropriate.

Rapists are not liked well in prison. Harlan will get some first hand retribution in general population for life. That's fine.

On death row, he'd be in a palatial single of a cell, in a quiet, calm cell block that's not bad as far as prison goes. It's not Hilton Head, but it's not Devil's Island, either. And it would all be over in a few years.

I'm against the death penalty. Death's too quick, and the living conditions are too comfortable.

Yes, yes, I'm cold-blooded.

But the bigger issue I have is the potential for precedent that bringing outside source material into a jury room presents. It doesn't matter if what they consulted was the Bible, Ann Coulter screech-trash or the wisdom of Confucius. It's not evidence, and it's not the law. Therefore, it should not be part of the decision. Period. Had the ruling stood, people could have brought all sorts of crap into the jury chambers to influence reluctant jurors. If the jurors cannot make an appropriate decision based on the evidence, then there's a bigger problem, and no amount of Biblical influence is going to help that.

And our local FotF pinheads do have a tendency to take the inch given them and turn it into a light-year... I could easily see them deciding that the Bible must be consulted for all crimes, and then pushing their opinions through the juries because most people aren't willing to contradict an obviously faithful Christian.

And I'm very, very glad Lisl Auman is getting a new trial. I've always thought she was a scapegoat, because the real killer was already dead. She made mistakes and should pay for them, but I think she's done that.

[coloradodem2005]

5. Hopefully Harlan will get just that.

He may not last that long. He might put up with it for a short time before he is murdered.

[El Supremo]

6. Those are some pretty nasty ideas about punishment.

From both you and coloradodem2005.

Are you sure you aren't Fundamentalists? Because you sound like that juror, Lana Ochoa, who sure must be. Like most Fundies she showed the passages in the Old Testament and ignored the ones in the New Testament. Jesus brought us a new understanding of God's forgiveness as opposed to the vengeance expressed in the old Hebrew scriptures.

My church agrees with the Catholics about the death penalty being wrong. This poor woman, due to her stupidity in bringing in a bible and showing only one side of the issue, finally ended up accomplishing exactly the opposite of what she wanted.

Our laws can not use the Bible as a reference. It is contradictory. And we would may as well have the Taliban take over.

See story at:
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=f5a66db7-0abe-421a-01b0-f730f1d8b16d&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

[coloradodem2005]

7. This man brutally raped and murdered a woman.

I know that I shouldn't let things hit me on an emotional level. But this is bullshit. I'm sorry. I would not want to coddle someone who did something so despicable in the least. Yes, I'll admit, I hate rapists. Call me a fundie for saying it if you want.

I hate rapists. I hate them.