Death penalty and the Bible

As reported many places, (and thanks to Vaughn for the link) the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that this jury incorrectly turned to the Bible for their justification of sentencing this guy to death.

CNN.com - Death sentence by jury that discussed Bible thrown out - Mar 29, 2005: "Harlan was sentenced to death in 1995, but defense lawyers learned that five jurors had looked up such Bible verses as 'eye for eye, tooth for tooth,' copied them and discussed them while deliberating behind closed doors."

What really bugs me about this is something I have argued in the past--that people are selectively drawing on the OT when they want an angry God who likes to smite. But they ignore the NT stance on forgiveness and tolerance. As Salaam noted in my comments one time, in the NT, Jesus spoke out for women who had committed adultery--a crime that merited the death penalty under OT law. So, a jury reaching into the bible with no other context is simply looking for a justification to kill this man. Bad theology. Bad law. Good decision by the court.