“The Devil made me do it” - Court Case Retrospective by Josh
Hey everyone Josh here, sorry we have taken so much time to get another post out. Holidays and life have just gotten busy. I wanted to bring this article to y’all, because it’s an interesting topic. If you think it could be a viable defense, comment below.
Actual case that was documented on March 27, 2024. The third Conjuring movie was made about it. Do you think this a viable defense in court?
Premise:
In 1981, Arne Cheyenne Johnson stabbed his landlord to death and pleaded guilty by reason of demonic possession. Prior to this stabbing Johnson witnessed his future brother-in-law levitating, listing the names of forty-two demons in Latin.
Sentence: Johnson was convicted of manslaughter and served five years of a ten- to twenty-year sentence
Publicity:
A local news article covering Johnson’s trial cited the Connecticut Supreme Court Judge, Robert Callahan, as denying the defense of demonic possession because “evidence of demonic possession is simply not relevant.” Minnella hoped to call Catholic priests to the stand because, according to Catholic doctrine, demonic possession is a real occurrence. Judge Callahan, however, considered this “incompetent evidence.” If Judge Callahan had allowed this evidence, “legal observers predicted it would have set a precedent for others to use and would hamstring law enforcement.”
Story:
Arne Johnson was trying to help his future brother-in-law who was very young at the time, I believe he was in his early teens when he used a Ouija board and contacted something that would later possess him. A quiet kid who never acted out, who was always the good kid in school, and then took a major turn. Started acting out, doing things that he would never have done if he had not been possessed. Arne became possessed because he contested the demons and said essentially pick on someone your own size, which turned into the catastrophic event in his life. The demon took up his offer and possessed him, which would be why he later killed his landlord.
There are no provisions in U.S. law that cover demonic possession as a defense for any crime; in fact, such claims are often used to prove insanity. However, the “Satan defense” often comes up in Texas courts—though it typically results in the defendant being found guilty or insane. This defense is considered impractical because there is an inherent implication that someone blaming the devil for their crimes is not taking responsibility for their own actions.
Another case where someone has claimed this defense, it happened in 1974 when a man in England violently murdered his wife. A priest even testified that he cast out 42 demons and because of this trauma his defense attorney argued it caused him to go insane.
Final Thoughts:
I think for some like me, I would argue, that although it would be hard to prove it in the court of law, could a demon make you murder someone, I think it has the power to yeah. How viable it is in court, I feel like it would be a skeptics dream, because it would be almost impossible to prove.
Sources:
James V. Healion, A Judge Wednesday Threw Out the ‘Demonic Defense’ of…, UPI Archives (1981), https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/10/28/A-judge-Wednesday-threw-out-the-demon-defense-of/2826373093200/.
L. Joe Dunman, The Devil in Recent American Law, 39 Pace L. Rev. 929, 965 (Sep. 2019).
William Axford, Texas Crimes That Have Been Blamed on Satan and Satanic Rituals, CHRON (Dec. 12, 2017), https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Texas-crimes-blamed-on-Satan-devil-evil-12345521.php.
Herb Silverman, A Few Kind Words for Satan, HUFFPOST (May 12, 2014), https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-few-kind-words-for-sata_b_4941371.
The Ossett Exorcism Murder (The Devil Made Me Do It) | England, Evidence Locker (2022), https://www.evidencelockerpodcast.com/transcripts/transcript-198-the-ossett-exorcism-murder-the-devil-made-me-do-it-england, (last visited Mar. 10, 2024)
