A judge's quotation of a Bible passage in sentencing a convicted rapist to prison does not warrant setting aside the penalty, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 this month to reject James Arnett's argument that a Hamilton County judge violated his rights by citing the Bible as an influence when she sentenced him to 51 years in prison.
Arnett had pleaded guilty in 1998 to raping a child under age 13 - the daughter of his live-in girlfriend - and pandering obscenity involving a minor.
During sentencing, Common Pleas Judge Melba Marsh cited Matthew 18:6: "And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
Marsh also referred to trial testimony and statements by the victim and her father, who requested a tough sentence, the appellate court's majority wrote. There was no indication that Marsh used the Bible as her final source of authority, and Arnett's sentence was in the lower half of the range allowed by Ohio law, the appeals court ruled.
"We reach this conclusion despite the fact that reasonable minds could certainly question the propriety of the trial judge making mention of the Bible at all in her sentencing decision," Judge Paul Matia wrote for the majority.
The ruling reverses a 2003 decision by a federal judge who ruled Arnett deserved a new sentencing hearing or release. Arnett's lawyer argued that the U.S. Supreme Court has forbidden trial courts to use factors such as religion when sentencing defendants.