A month before Covington's case is set to go to trial, prosecutors have asked a judge to bar defense attorneys from getting biblical with jurors. In a motion filed late last week, prosecutor Jay Pruner said the public defenders representing Covington should be prohibited from making "any religious arguments to the jury" during the penalty phase, when jurors decide whether to give a defendant the death sentence. That includes using the phrases "a society based on Christian principles" and any reference to "our sins being forgiven by God's mercy"...
A month ago, the same defense attorneys who are representing Covington argued on behalf of Richard McTear Jr., who was accused of murdering his girlfriend's infant son by throwing him onto the side of an interstate in Hillsborough County. During the penalty phase, Assistant Public Defender Theda James asked jurors to spare McTear's life.
"We should leave vengeance to the Lord. It doesn't belong in this courtroom," she said as prosecutors loudly objected... "Pray for forgiveness," she told jurors, who rejected the death penalty for McTear.
