Postpartum psychosis with delusions, including demonic possession with the ability to talk to the dead, is how a psychiatrist described the mental health of Jesseca Carson when her 13-month-old daughter Amora was brutally beaten and strangled to death in December 2008.

The psychiatrist testified in Blaine Milam’s capital murder trial Wednesday in a Montgomery County courtroom as Milam’s defense team attempted to shift the blame of the death from their client to Ms. Carson.

Blaine Milam, 20, is facing the death penalty for the December 2008 beating death of 13-month-old Amora Bain Carson.

Milam and his fiancee, Jessica Carson, are charged with beating the toddler 20 times with a hammer while allegedly attempting to perform an exorcism on the little girl.

Jurors heard compelling evidence Monday from a bite expert who testified Blaine Milam could not be ruled out as the contributor of the majority of bite marks on 13-month-old Amora Carson.

Forensic odontologist Robert Williams testified his area of expertise has been used to identify serial killers, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 and Branch Davidian victims when other methods failed.

Blaine Milam and Jesseca Carson stand accused of murdering her 13-month-old daughter, Amo­ra, on Dec. 2, 2008, by beating the child to death while performing what they claim was an exorcism to drive out demons from the toddler.

If convicted, both parties face the death penalty.

A forensic pathologist told a Montgomery County jury Wednesday there were too many injuries suffered by 13-month-old Amora Bain Carson to give a definitive cause of death.

The doctor told jurors Amora had 18 breaks in her ribs and at least 24 human bite wounds covering her body.

Dr. Pinckard said it appeared she had been strangled as well as having suffered multiple skull fractures, brain injuries, a torn liver, her arms and legs had been twisted to the point of breaking, her retinas detached and internal injuries from apparently being sexually assaulted with an object authorities believe was a pipe wrench.

Detectives investigating the Dec. 2, 2008, death of 13-month-old Amora Bain Carson in Rusk County found a wrench under the home where she had been living hours after Blaine Keith Milam asked his sister to find and retrieve some evidence there, witnesses testified.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Milam, 20, if he is convicted of capital murder for Amora’s beating death.

Rusk County District Attorney Micheal Jimerson said on Dec, 2, 2008 13-month-old Amora Carson was robbed of her life and of her innocence. He apologized for what the jurors would have to endure during the trial.

He explained the murder was brutal, and the scene was one that gave law enforcement officials nightmares.

The affidavit alleges that after Blaine Milam killed the child, with the child’s mother Jessica Carson looking on.

Detectives said that Carson and Milam reportedly beat the child multiple times with a hammer and bit the child more than 30 times.

He added that the assault on Pope Benedict XVI on Christmas Eve by a mentally unstable woman and the sex abuse scandals which have engulfed the Church in the US, Ireland, Germany and other countries, were proof that the Anti-Christ was waging a war against the Holy See.

Australia: A psychologist who helped perform exorcisms on his patients and believed in “satanic abuse” has been banned from practising by the state’s health watchdog.

Mark Edward Tynan, of the western Sydney-based Christian group Servants of Jesus, was found to have blurred his spiritual beliefs and professional duties, placing clients in “grave risk of harm”.

An Al-Arqam follower who is charged with murdering a Malaysia couple admitted in High Court that he had hit the victims with a piece of wood, crash helmet and mop handle to exorcise them.

“I could see that there were many evil spirits in my house and in the bodies of all my family members which I needed to remove,” the man said.

Cries rang out in an emotion-filled courtroom after a New Zealand High Court jury found five members of the family of a young woman guilty of her manslaughter during a curse lifting ceremony.

The family performed an exorcism on Moses in October 2007, forcing water into her mouth and eyes to flush out demons and lift the makutu, or curse. Instead enough went into her lungs to drown her.

The fate of eight family members who took part in an exorcism ritual in which a young mother died after water was poured down her throat is in the hands of a jury.

During the trial the New Zealan Crown called over 60 witnesses to give evidence against the accused. The Defence did not call a single one, instead using cross-examination to find flaws in the evidence.

Janet Moses die in October 2007, when she drowned as a result of the accused pouring water into her mouth and over her face during a ceremony to “cleanse” her.

An expert in Tainui iwi culture told the jury that the water-based cleansing ceremony was misguided, misinformed and mistaken. He indicated the family’s actions had no cultural basis and was totally foreign to him.

Today’s edition of RNB’s Religion News Roundup includes two items about witchcraft, one somewhat funny, and one seriously disturbing.

The funny item involves the believe in Tanzania that by use of witchcraft one can transport crops from one farm to another (i.e. stealing in order to save oneself lots of hard work).

The serious item comes from Nigeria, where hundreds of children falsely accused of witchcraft have been killed.

There are also news items about faith healing, a link to resources for religion reporters covering the on-going torture debacle, and more…

« Newer — Older »