Caleb Adams Commentary
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Jury's use of Bible voids death sentence???
Robert Harlan, who raped and killed a waitress in 1994 and paralyzed the woman who tried to save her, will serve life in prison after his death sentence was overturned.The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday that a lower court correctly overturned a death sentence because jurors read Bible passages during deliberations. Robert Harlan of Denver, who was convicted of raping and killing a waitress and (almost killying) -- permanently paralyzing the woman who tried to save her in 1994, instead will serve life in prison, the court said in a 3-2 ruling.
Harlan, then a 29-year-old telephone operator, kidnapped and raped Rhonda Lee Maloney, who was on her way home from her job at a Central City casino. Jacquie Creazzo saw Maloney struggling and tried to save her, but she was shot by Harlan and paralyzed from the waist down. Harlan, the son of a Denver police detective, snatched Maloney again. Maloney's battered body was found a week later in Adams County with a bullet hole in her forehead. "The only thing I care about is (Harlan's) not getting out again," Creazzo said after the ruling Monday.
