Exorcism case appealed to Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to review the case of a former Colleyville, Texas, woman who says a forced traumatic exorcism left her so physically bruised and emotionally scarred that she later tried to commit suicide.

A divided Texas Supreme Court ruled in June that the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God staff and members are protected by the First Amendment because the case involves an ecclesiastical dispute over religious conduct.

Laura Schubert Pearson described a wild night in 1996 that involved casting out demons from the church and two attempts to exorcise demons from her. The incident led Pearson, then 17, to drop out of school, cut herself as many as 100 times over several years and eventually attempt suicide, she said.

Pearson’s attorneys contend that the Texas Supreme Court’s 6-3 June decision “dramatically and dangerously departs” from the U.S. Supreme Court’s First Amendment jurisprudence, adding that someone’s religious beliefs do not excuse them from accountability under valid state laws that prohibit such things as assault and false imprisonment.

“We don’t know what kind of mischief the decision is going to create,” Scott Gant, the Washington attorney representing Pearson and her family, said. It tries to expand the universe of activities that are protected by the First Amendment’s freedom of religion precepts, he said.

“The Texas Supreme Court’s majority ignored some of the most relevant U.S. Supreme Court decisions and then misapplied others,” Gant said.

In briefs filed this month with the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys representing the now-defunct church —- it has merged with another Colleyville church —- contend that the case is a personal injury action regarding mental anguish damages that should be left for the state courts to decide.

Arguing that a similar claim has never been made in a federal court, David Pruessner, the church’s attorney, also wrote that “pursuing this tort path would take the courts into forbidden territory: protected religious conduct.” He added that the Texas high court’s decision is consistent with the legal doctrine of ecclesiastical autonomy.

“It is fundamental that the Constitution embraces the right to be free from unwarranted governmental intervention,” Pruessner’s brief states. Although it may appear “weird” to outsiders, he said, tens of millions of Pentecostal followers pursue these beliefs without harm, including the former Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Gant expects the Supreme Court to decide by mid- to late January whether it will take the case. Pearson is now 29, married and living in Georgia.