The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a district court’s ruling, paving the way for a Santeria priest in Euless to resume goat sacrifices as part of religious ceremonies.

Euless’ attorney, William “Mick” McKamie, said he plans to file a motion for a rehearing. City officials have said animal sacrifices jeopardize public health and violate Euless’ slaughterhouse and animal-cruelty ordinances.

A Santeria priest who sued a Texas city for denying him permission to sacrifice a goat as part of a religious ceremony asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to let him resume the ritual in his home.

“In 1993 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found unconstitutional a city ban on killing ‘an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption.’ We are pretty sure the Constitution still applies in Texas,” says Eric Rassbach, of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. [video]

Michelle Wood said she was attacked by members of a voodoo group when she refused to participate in drug use and devil worship in a ceremony related to the autumnal equinox.

But cult experts said Wood’s story didn’t line up with known voodoo practices.

The account of a woman recovering from critical injuries she said were inflicted by members of an occult group may be difficult to unravel because it doesn’t match the typical methods used by such groups, an expert in cult activities said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, police investigators released little new information about the case but cult experts and police documents raise some questions about the woman’s account.

A woman found beaten and lying on the side of U.S. 1 in St. Johns County told deputies she ended up that way after a voodoo ceremony in Flagler County related to the autumnal equinox.

Michelle Rene Wood, 42, of Palm Coast was found covered in blood with both eyes swollen shut early Monday, according to a St. Johns County sheriff’s report. A rope was tied around her right wrist and a bungee cord around her left ankle, the report states.

A nationally recognized Santeria priest has engaged an attorney in his battle with Coral Gables, Florida, after police there interrupted a ceremony with animal sacrifices at a home last summer.

“The issue of Santeria and animal sacrifice has already been decided by the United States Supreme Court. I’m pretty sure the Constitution of the United States still applies in Euless, Texas.”

At the end of the one-day trial, U.S. District Judge John McBryde said Euless was protecting the public’s health by banning animal slaughtering in the city limits but that Merced could do the rituals elsewhere.

The surge in Santeria, which is practiced by many in Cuba, can partly be explained by the arrival of thousands of Cuban doctors in Venezuela.

Jose Merced filed the federal discrimination lawsuit in December 2006 after city officials told him he couldn’t kill goats for a ceremony.

Noriel Batista has had little peace since a swarm of Coral Gables police officers burst onto his property, disrupting a Santeria ritual intended to initiate him into a special order of his religion’s priesthood

A public school principal accused of paying a woman to sprinkle chicken blood on the high school in an attempt to cleanse it of negative energy will be fired, the Department of Education said Tuesday.

Santeria finds a following among baseball’s Latin American players, who’d rather not discuss it for fear of misperceptions.

A Santeria priest who is suing Euless over his religious practice of animal sacrifice would be allowed to kill chickens and hold small weekly gatherings at his home under a settlement offered by city attorneys.

The city of Euless has asked a federal judge to dismiss a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by a Santeria priest who wants to sacrifice animals at his home.