Over 100 Louisiana Religious Leaders Oppose the Imposition of the Death Penalty in Crawford Case

Brief of Louisiana Religious Leaders

More than 100 religious leaders, including Archbishop Aymond, have signed an amicus brief objecting to Dale Cox’s sacrilegious argument to the jury in Rodricus Crawford’s case that Jesus Christ commanded the death penalty for the killing of a child. The leaders, which hail from many different faiths, argue that Cox misquoted and misinterpreted scripture and misled the jury into thinking Jesus favored the death penalty for Crawford. Yesterday, the brief was filed at the Louisiana Supreme Court. Interfaith leaders held a prayer circle on the steps of the Louisiana Supreme court asking for peace and justice. 

The religious leaders who signed on to the brief come from all faiths and all regions of Louisiana. They are Louisiana ministers, sisters, priests, deacons, rabbis and other ordained clergy and religious people and organizations who oppose the imposition of the death penalty in this case. They asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to throw out the death sentence imposed upon of Rodricus Crawford because the prosecutor misquoted and misinterpreted the Bible while advocating for the death penalty. 

The Brief observes that the trial prosecutor, attorney  Dale Cox, said Jesus would want the jury to vote for death.  “Woe be unto you, who would harm on of these.  Now, this is the Jesus Christ of the New Testament.  It would be better if though you were never born.  You shall have a millstone cast around your neck and you will be thrown into the sea…. the thing about Christ is in both cases, He reached a just verdict which is what the law asks you to reach in this case:  a just verdict.  Not the mean Christ, not the nice Christ, but the just Christ.  And that’s why I think that we should not lightly disregard His words when He talks about what He would do to someone who hurt one of these…what He would do.” 

The religious leaders advised the Louisiana Supreme Court that this was a misinterpretation of the Bible in religious terms and a legal problem which forces the court to get into the individual religious beliefs of prosecutors, judges, and juries.

Brief of Innocence Network

The Innocence Network filed an Amicus Brief on behalf of Rodricus Crawford, noting that medical evidence indicated that the victim – Mr. Crawford’s son – died from septic shock associated with pneumonia rather than as a result of a homicide.  The Amicus Brief notes that Crawford’s conviction and death sentence is paradigmatic of wrongful convictions based upon faulty science.  

For more about Crawford’s case See Rachel Aviv, “Revenge Killing: Race and the death penalty in a Louisiana Parish,” The New Yorker, July 6, 2015.