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Biblical Reference In Closing Argument Does Not Invalidate Guilty Verdict

By Howard M. Friedman

In Powell v. State, (GA App., March 16, 2011), the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed an appellant's conviction for aggravated assault, rejecting his claim that the trial judge allowed improper religious-based statements by the prosecution during closing argument. At issue was this statement to the jury by the prosecution:

let me call your attention to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, four books of the Bible, first four books in the New Testament. They all have a little minor inconsistency between each of them, here and there, and that's because of perspective. But what do we call those four books of the Bible, ladies and gentlemen? We call them the gospel truth, ladies and gentlemen, the gospel truth.

The court concluded:

the biblical reference at issue here did not invite jurors to base their verdict on extraneous matters, or exhort jurors to reach a verdict on religious grounds, instead the prosecutor used the references to encourage jurors to overlook inconsistencies in the evidence.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on March 19, 2011 (boomark / email).