Defense asks for no Mormons on murder trial jury
February 11th, 2009 @ 10:10am
OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- An attorney for a man charged with aggravated murder have filed a motion to keep off the jury any members of the Mormon church who might believe that the only way for him to be forgiven by God is to be executed.
Sharon Sipes, a public defender for Riqo Perea, filed the motion in 2nd District Court. She says a belief among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that the only way to receive true forgiveness from God after committing a serious offense is to shed one's own blood.
Sipes says that although the church has indicated blood atonement isn't part of official doctrine, members widely believe it.
Perea, 21, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder in a gang-related 2007 shooting. Perea could face the death penalty.
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Information from: Standard-Examiner
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Because no one told me. And I'm anti capital punishment. But tell me what you think/have heard.
8 comments:
Blood atonement. Um, no. That murder is unforgivable in the sense that the only way to give true restitution would be to "take one's life"--which the church does not support (suicide), at some level, yes. But, each situation would have to be judged by the Highest Judge before we could truly say how "restitution" would have to occur--and I don't want to, per sa, be that judge. Do many members of the church agree with capital punishment--yes, and sort of. It varies (just as most things vary within the church). Is there a belief that "we all do"--unfortunately yes as well. Especially in "Mormon zones".
Does that help?
Mary P.
I've never heard anything like that before...Sounds like one of those Mormon myths..like "we kill babies in the temple"...ya know, crap like that. As far as my PERSONAL opinion. Murder is a sin and a crime. I personally don't believe there is earthly restitution for it, because you can not bring back someone's life. Therefore, I personally think the restitution thing is between the sinner and the Lord.
PS..and I mean the "restitution plan" will happen between the sinner and the Lord in the next life...AKA judgement day
Well, even in the history of the church some prophets/GA's would preach it, some would not. For Example, Brigham young said that if you caught your spouse in bed with someone and you killed them both you would be justified (blood atonement) but no one is perfect. Afterall, he also said if you marry a black person you should die. OK honestly, I don't care for Brigham Young quotes very much, he said a lot of things that I don't agree with.
Anyway, blood atonement and capital punishment are different. If you go to lds.org you can look in the study helps for scripture study and find a section on capital punishment. "He that kills shall die, D&C 42: 19." But, I always thought it was spiritual death. I dunno, the other references just state that death is the punishment for killing in their law.
Either way, I could never convict someone of the punishment of death. I think prison is enough, and the Lord can sort things as needed.
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/public-issues/capital-punishment
The church's official view = its up to the legal system and depends on the situation.
At risk of repeating what others have said:
1. Blood atonement and capital punishment are not the same thing. The church has no official view of capital punishment, and we should decide how we feel about it on our own.
2. Blood atonement is not part of our doctrine. If you look up "blood atonement" on lds.org, there are 4 things that come up, all signifying that it isn't part of our doctrine. The only blood atonement we believe in is the atonement of Jesus Christ in which he shed his blood for all of us. As for murderers, I agree that we leave that in the hands of the Lord. God knows that (most/all) gang members don't have a great understanding of the gospel plan.
I think you're awesome!
It's one of the shady things that is always present anti-mormon literature but as far as I know no one except for Brigham Young ever mentioned it. I don't believe in capital punishment either.
ummm weird. i'll leave it at that since anything i would say is already in the other comments. but seriously. weird.
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