Man sentenced in case of Milwaukee boy who died at prayer service

A church elder was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison Tuesday for abusing an 8-year-old autistic boy who died in what prosecutors called an exorcism at a storefront church.

Prosecutors say Ray Hemphill lay on Terrance Cottrell Jr.’s chest for at least an hour while trying to release “demons” from him, before the boy died Aug. 22, 2003.

“It was your unreasonable and reckless conduct that caused this child to die,” Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jean DiMotto told Hemphill.

Last month, a jury found Hemphill, 46, guilty of physical abuse of a child recklessly causing great bodily harm.

Hemphill’s attorney had argued his client was trying to help the boy, and that Cottrell died after an overdose of medication.

The medical examiner ruled the boy died of suffocation.

Terrance died at the Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith in Milwaukee, where Hemphill was a church elder and where the boy and his mother were members.

The judge also sentenced Hemphill to 7-1/2 years of extended supervision and ordered him to pay about $1,200 in restitution. He had faced a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

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