No gag order ruling by judge in sweat lodge case

CAMP VERDE, Ariz. (AP) – Attorneys in the case of a motivational speaker charged with manslaughter remain free to speak about the case as a judge considers whether to issue a prosecutors’ request for a gag order.

Yavapai County Judge Warren Darrow said Friday he would take the request under advisement and reminded attorneys to comply with ethical rules that govern their conduct.

An attorney for James Arthur Ray, who faces three counts of manslaughter stemming from a sweat lodge ceremony he led in October, argued that a simple reminder of such rules would suffice. Prosecutors contended the gag order was needed to limit pretrial publicity that could taint the jury pool and cited interviews that defense attorneys granted a day after Ray’s arrest last week.

“Any orders that might come from the Supreme Court later as a sanction are going to be too little, too late,” said prosecutor Bill Hughes.

Defense attorney Brad Brian said Ray’s attorneys stayed quiet for months and decided to grant only a limited number of interviews to counter the negative publicity against their client brought on by the sheriff’s office and the release of records in the case.

“We are well aware of the risks of going too far, and we don’t intend to do that,” he said.

Attorneys for some media organizations also argued against issuing a gag order, saying it was unjustified and would severely limit the public’s ability to monitor the proceedings.

As requested, the gag order would cover Ray, his Web site and blog, his attorneys and their staff, and employees of his Carlsbad, Calif.-based company, James Ray International. It also would include employees of the county sheriff’s office and the county attorney’s office.

Ray is being held at the Yavapai County jail on a $5 million bond, a figure his attorneys will argue to have reduced at a Feb. 23 hearing. If convicted, Ray faces up to 121/2 years on each of three counts of manslaughter with probation being an option.

Prosecutors contend Ray recklessly crammed more than 50 participants of his “Spiritual Warrior” event into a 415-square-foot sweat lodge and chided them for wanting to leave, even as people were vomiting, getting burned by hot rocks and lying unconscious on the ground.

Three people died at hospitals – Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, N.Y., James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee; and Liz Neuman, 49, of Prior Lake, Minn. Eighteen others were hospitalized.

Ray’s attorneys have said he took all the necessary precautions and immediately tended to the ill. They have called the deaths a tragic accident and said Ray has pleaded not guilty.

Sweat lodges are commonly used by American Indian tribes to cleanse the body. The ceremony involves heating stones outside the lodge and then placing them in a pit inside the lodge. The door is closed, and water is poured on the stones, producing heat aimed at releasing toxins from the body.