FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Four jurors who heard months of testimony in a self-help author’s criminal trial were convinced he was guilty on three counts of manslaughter, but couldn’t sway the other eight who didn’t believe prosecutors had proven the charges.
The jury spent about 10 hours deliberating before settling on the lesser charge of negligent homicide, placing the blame on James Arthur Ray for the deaths of three people following Ray’s sweat lodge ceremony near Sedona, Ariz.
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Prosecutors staked their case on the heat inside the sweat lodge and on Ray’s conduct, using his own words recorded during the weeklong event in October 2009 against him. The defense accused authorities of botching the investigation and failing to consider that chemicals typically found in pesticides factored into the deaths.
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Dr. Matthew Dickson, who reviewed autopsy records and medical reports of the participants for the prosecution, gained major points with the jury because of his experience with heat-related illness and exposure to pesticides, Lepacek said.
Dickson testified he was 99-percent sure that heat caused the deaths, and that the signs and symptoms of the victims were inconsistent with exposure to organophosphates, a pesticide compound.
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