CAMP VERDE, Ariz. (AP) – Testimony resumed March 8 in the trial of a self-help author charged with three counts of manslaughter for deaths that happened following a 2009 sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona.
James Arthur Ray is charged with the deaths of three participants during the final event of his weeklong “Spiritual Warrior” retreat. More than 50 participants packed into a heated structure commonly used by American Indians to remove toxins.
Prosecutors in Yavapai County allege that Ray conditioned the participants to trust him and stayed inside the sweat lodge even as they began to die.
Ray’s defense attorneys told jurors in opening statements last week that the deaths were a tragic accident that Ray could not have foreseen.