February 11, 2009

UT: 60.4% chance of pissing off the DP jury pool

The story's less inflammatory than the headline, but still, an interesting way to start picking a "jury for life," from the Ogden Standard-Examiner:

Homicide defense motion excludes LDS jury members

The defense has filed a motion seeking to keep off Riqo Perea's jury any members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who adhere to the church's past teachings of blood atonement.

Such jurors would be much more likely to vote for an execution, according to the motion filed in 2nd District Court, where Perea faces the death penalty in a 2007 gang homicide. "Utah's population contains a significant percentage of members of one religion ... members of the LDS Church make up an estimated 60.4 percent of the state's population," reads the motion...


Just guessing here that the percentage of Mormons who adhere to anything close to blood atonement is more than a bit south of 60%. Also guessing that the Colorado Method hasn't spread to Weber County. Oh, and yes, this issue has come up in Idaho before.

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