By Kim Hilsenbeck.
A hung jury in Manchaca on Palm Sunday was unable to agree on whether or not to sentence Jesus, the leader of the Christian faith, to death. Jesus was convicted of the crime of blasphemy – claiming he was the son of God – in an earlier trial.
While the sentencing trial explained here was not real, it was realistic.
Prosecutor Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and current law professor, presented his case, saying Jesus deserved to die because he represented a threat to society. Some jurors, who were mostly members of Manchaca United Methodist Church, said they felt he indeed represented a threat but were unwilling to say he deserved to be put to death.
Others felt the case against Jesus was strong enough to enact the death penalty, though public defender Jeanne Bishop of Chicago tried to make the argument that he deserved mercy.
| A hung jury at Manchaca United Methodist Church could not agree to put Jesus to death for the crime of blasphemy. It was all part of a mock trial organized by former federal prosecutor Mark Osler to put Jesus on trial for death under Texas law. (Photos by Kim Hilsenbeck) |
Bishop called witnesses, including a Centurion slave. She did not put Jesus on the stand to testify in his own defense, saying in an interview after the verdict, “Defense attorneys don’t put their clients on the stand unless they have to.”
The prosecutor continued to hammer the point in closing arguments that Jesus was a threat to society. He offered an example.
“He gathers young children around and says, ‘if your eye offends, tear it out.’ Who says that to children? That’s not responsible. That is not good for society.”
Osler continued, “He shuns those who can read, those who know the ancient teachings.”
But Bishop hit back with a favorable portrayal of the man sitting at the table next to her wearing an orange prison uniform.
“This is a living, breathing human being and you’re being asked to say to him, we are going to snuff out your life,” Bishop said. “That is a momentous question.”
She told the jury there are two questions they must answer.
“One, is he such a threat that his life should be taken?” she asked. “And [two,] is there such a lack of mitigation that there’s nothing that would convince us to show mercy to him?”
Bishop calmly described how Jesus behaved and how he lived his life.
“He didn’t resist in own arrest, he persuaded his followers to be peaceful,” she said.
Her next line of reasoning asked jurors to consider Texas law.
“Think about the death penalty itself. You have the power under the law to end his life. The law in the state of Texas allows you to end his life.”
She alluded to one of her witnesses, a woman in Moses’ time who was found guilty of a crime and under the law at that time, the people were allowed to stone her to death.
“Jesus didn’t question the law,” Bishop said. “He questioned their right to kill her. He asked if any among them was without sin. If there was, then they could cast the first stone.”
“Mercy doesn’t encompass for all of us,” Osler countered in rebuttal during closing arguments. “If he survives, that threat continues.”
The judge, portrayed by attorney James Nortey of Austin, gave instructions to the jury before deliberations.
“Do you find there is a probability that, if not executed, the defendant (Jesus) would commit criminal acts that would represent a continuing threat to society?” he said. “You will vote yes or no.”
A no would mean the jury was finished and would not answer the second question.
“If you vote yes, you will proceed to the next question,” Nortey said. “In light of all mitigation, is the death penalty warranted?”
He reminded the jury that it takes 12 unanimous votes to sentence Jesus to death.
Though the jury deliberated for about 30 minutes, they could not find consensus. Therefore, he would not be put to death.
Osler explained how he got started with the Palm Sunday sentencing trial of Jesus.
He opened up the Waco Tribune Herald one Sunday morning and saw an article describing the last meal of a man convicted of a crime and sentenced to death.
“I was amazed that people were that interested in the last meal of a convicted man,” he said.
He thought it would be interesting to get Christians to think about the death penalty in light of Texas law and in the context of their own faith. He now conducts these mock trials around the country.
