James Ray Case Moves: What's Tomorrow

The James Arthur Ray trial is scheduled for a short hearing tomorrow (Sep 14). There has been constant bickering throughout the summer (anybody surprised?) about what comes next and how and how many and when. Tomorrow's hearing is supposed to smooth out the wrinkles so everybody shows up on time and on task in the near future. The points of bickering are:

 Vintage Prescott Rodeo bull riding

a) should the mitigation hearing proceed next week considering the parties are still waiting on Judge Darrow's ruling on whether there will be a new trial?

b) should there be a reschedule based on the additional concerns of coordinating witness's travel plans and accusations and counter accusations between defense and prosecution about who is cooperating with timely disclosure and other procedures so the other side can be prepared?

A mitigation hearing is all about proving James Ray should not be given a tough sentence. For the only time in the trial, the burden of proof is on the defense.  That's currently scheduled for several days next week. After that comes actual sentencing. The current date for sentencing is Sep 26.

One thing we do know is that all this will take place in a different venue than you are used to seeing: the town of Camp Verde is one player that has been definitely taken off the field. This was strictly an administrative decision having to do solely with housekeeping issues of doing criminal justice in sparsely populated Yavapai County. 

Prescott is not far from Camp Verde and has a western frontier flare all its own, having been established in the middle of the Civil War. It served as Arizona's first capitol when the region was named a territory. It still boasts the country's longest continuously operating rodeo. Hey, I'm just quoting them, don't make me prove that. I've attended several times and it is loads of fun. That photo above is vintage Prescott Rodeo.

However, apparently in the early part of the 20th century, as the cowboy life was disappearing all over America, the Prescott Rodeo felt the insidious threat of extinction. A group of vigorous community characters got together and invented the "Smoki tribe." That's pronounced "smoke-eye." They put together elaborate performances, including a scary snake dance, that became an instant hit at the rodeo in 1921. The audience and the revenue came back.

For a history of the Prescott Smokis in Arizona, google a bit. It's pretty interesting and definitely colorful. Iconic statesman Barry Goldwater was a member and many other Arizona power brokers. As you can imagine, rumors and suspicions dogged the group in later years. Ultimately, the Hopi tribe--real Indians who needed no makeup nor fictional folklore (invented by local historian Sharlot Hall) nor mocked up initiation rites--put an end to the performances forever. But for most of the 20th century, the Smoki performances were considered roaring good fun for generations of Arizonans. 

Pioneer Sharlot Hall was one of the West's earliest professional historians. She used her skills to invent a backstory for the Smoki tribe--really a group of Caucasian community leaders,

No introduction of Prescott would be complete without a mention of fiery and witty former U.S. Congressman Sam Steiger. Sam, who still lives in Prescott, embodied the can-do man-of-action legacy of the West when, under cover of moonlight, he grabbed cans of white paint and hand brushed on a crosswalk in downtown Prescott between Whiskey Row (yeah, a bunch of cowboy watering holes lined up together) and the historic Prescott Courthouse in the middle of the square. Sam wanted the crosswalk and no tenderfoot City Council was gonna stand in his way. 

So to sum up, the difference between Camp Verde and Prescott is roughly 40 miles; Prescott is much bigger but still small; Prescott was a territorial capitol while Camp Verde was an Army camp (Civil War era); both had loads of sad history with Indian tribes but Camp Verde in the 20th century became known for preserving ruins while Prescott wrangled with a major breach of etiquette with the Hopi Tribe; and most pertinent to James Arthur Ray, Camp Verde's luxurious courthouse is brand spanking new while Prescott's is historic, charming but much less comfortable. No tigers, though, at the Prescott courthouse. It's actually surrounded by town, not safari land.  (see this post for context & photos on that last remark)

It's interesting to think about the final end of the Smokis, succumbing to the opposition of the Hopis who felt their ceremonies and traditions were being bastardized for offensive commercial uses. Many tribes today feel the same way about James Arthur Ray's adaptation of the sweat lodge rite. The Smokis adopted a good neighbor policy, stopped the performances and converted their creative contribution to a museum. That bit of enlightenment came over 20 years ago. And, as far as I know, no one ever died at a Smoki event.  

Tomorrow I'll let you know what happens in the James Arthur Ray hearing. Thanks for visiting.

UPDATE: CLICK HERE

Camille Kimball's books:

What She Always Wanted

A Sudden Shot

The Mammoth Book of Tough Guys

James Arthur Ray-Open Letter to "Civil Matter" Theorists (sweat lodge)

I have seen the most amazing chatter on the net about what happened to three people in an Arizona sweat lodge and the man who kept tight control of that sweat lodge, James Arthur Ray.

Today I would like to address legal chatter incessantly repeating that the three victims were responsible for their own "choices," especially as evidenced by the releases they signed. This theory is often propounded on websites run by lawyers not involved with the case.

Author Camille Kimball at Yavapai County Courthouse.
pointing to 2nd story courtroom where James Arthur Ray trial takes place.

May I share a personal anecdote about "releases?" When I was in my twenties, I found myself being wheeled into an OR for emergency surgery over the 4th of July. I was in a great deal of pain and was suffering from dehydration, nausea and other distressing medical findings. I was frightened emotionally and physically very weak. With tubes coming out of me, I remember the green one that traveled over my head vividly, and orderlies chafing to speed up my gurney, my doctor leaned in and handed me a release.

"Just sign here," she said.

Even at that fragile moment, I still had the soul of a journalist: I read it.  The release essentially indemnified the doctor for everything that could possibly happen including error and malice and, oh, say, sewing an earring into my gullet cuz it looked cute and cutting off a foot cuz it didn't.  I looked up at her and said, weakly, "I don't think I should sign this."

"Well," she said, sitting down, "we'll have to stop all this until you can find a doctor you trust, then."

Remember this was emergency surgery...on a major holiday.

I stared at her from the gurney. I reviewed all my physical miseries.

"I would just add," she said, clearing her throat, "that every other surgeon who comes in here will require you to sign the same form."

I signed.

I'm still kicking up trouble today, no earrings in my gullet and all my feet accounted for, but I was forever bothered by the exortionate circumstances of having signed that release.  I cheered and felt appropriately smug when, some years later, courts ruled that such waivers are, in fact, extortion and not at all valid.

So let's look at the circumstances of the sweat lodge waivers required by JRI (James Ray International).  The participants had paid about $10,000 each to be there. Some had tried to get out of it--many had signed up during a high pressure sales blitz--but had found their money unrefundable. $10,000 is a lot to walk away from for anyone. An amount, one might even say, that sounds like extortion.

The waivers were presented to the folks in a haphazard fashion as participants arrived and were not included in sales or orientation materials that could have been reviewed in advance. The people handing out the waivers were untrained and, according to their own testimony, answered "I don't know" when some participants asked for more details or explanations.

The waivers do not reveal that:

• a sweat lodge is planned, nor that the sweat lodge will be "kickass" and "much hotter than those wimpy sweat lodges;" 
• nor that plastic tarpaulins will be used instead of traditional "breathable" materials; 
• that excessive amounts of hot rocks will be used; 
• that the lodge will continue much longer than traditional sweat lodges; 
• that it will be tiny and packed with over four dozen people nor information given to compare to a traditional sweat lodge that typically houses  6 - 10 and the upper limit is usually considered 15 people; 
• that no one associated with the lodge is trained in CPR or heat death and specifically that the leader of the sweat lodge who controls the heat and the doorway has no training; 
• nor does this waiver list symptoms of heat stroke for participants to use their own judgement. 
• And, finally, the waiver does not inform the participant that others have experienced serious injury including death (just 3 months before) while participating in one of these seminars. 
• The person signing the waiver is also never told, certainly not in writing, that they will be deliberately kept on a protein free diet to keep them "off balance," will be deprived of sleep all week, and will enter the sweat lodge only after a 36 our "vision quest" involving a total fast and for many, no water.

If the participants had been furnished with a list of symptoms of heat stroke, they would have seen that symptoms relating to mental confusion are prominent. It turns up on every list. Here, at random, is the CDC--
Symptoms of heat exhaustion include:

• Heavy sweating
• Extreme weakness or fatigue
• Dizziness, confusion
• Nausea
• Clammy, moist skin
• Pale or flushed complexion
• Muscle cramps
• Slightly elevated body temperature
• Fast and shallow breathing  

Symptoms of heat stroke include:            

• Hallucinations
• Chills
• Throbbing headache                             
  
• High body temperature
• Confusion/dizziness
• Slurred speech       

Symptoms of heat syncope include: (a fainting or dizziness episode that can also be associated with lack of acclimatization)

• Light-headedness
• Dizziness
• Fainting

In the law we recognize that a criminal act may be mitigated by the fact that the perpetrator was under the influence of an intoxicating or impairing substance. We charge him with second degree offenses, not first, and give him lighter sentences. We don't let people drive when they are impaired. Impairment is a well established legal concept.

Therefore, by definition, once the people had heat stroke, even as they were on their way to heat stroke with the much milder conditions of heat exhaustion or heat syncope, they were incapable of making good decisions or communicating properly what their condition or needs were.   Much is made that Liz Neuman said "no" when she was asked if she needed help. Who knows what question her mind was answering? who knows what word her brain thought her lips formed?

Right now in Arizona we are suffering from a prolonged heat wave. 122 to 112 every day. Tempers flare, cars break down, traffic snarls. And our emergency personnel want us to know to take it seriously. They have us under an official "excessive heat warning."

I remember a story I did on heat deaths as a TV reporter several years ago. Indelibly recorded in my mind is the county medical examiner telling me on camera, as he cheerfully described the medical process of a human being dying by heat, "we are, after all, meat." With that medical/culinary description in mind, at this time, it might be helpful to invoke the image of an iconic ad campaign against illicit drugs.

Crack an egg.
Drop it in a hot frying pan.
This, quite literally, is your brain on heat.

So this is my open letter to those who rail against an Arizona jury for what they claim as "confusing what should have been a civil matter." Please check your lawbooks about things like "informed consent" and "impairment."  Then check the thermostat in the hallway, undoubtedly set to a pleasant number, and give thanks that your brain is not in a frying pan and therefore you can actually still read.

Camille Kimball's books:

What She Always Wanted

A Sudden Shot

The Mammoth Book of Tough Guys

Ray Case Affects Other Big Murder Trial

Pssst....following the James Arthur Ray sweat lodge trial? There's another very interesting case seated in the exact courtroom and I happen to know that it's coming to a TV near you.

A USB stockbroker named Steven DeMocker is accused by Yavapai County of a very bloody murder.

Camp Verde Murder Defendant Steven DeMocker--shares a judge with James Arthur Ray

DeMocker's ex-wife--the divorce had gone through just about 3 months before--was found clubbed to death in the couple's former home, in which she was still living. Very sadly and very Hollywood, the former Mrs. DeMocker was on the phone to her mother when she exclaimed "Oh, no!" and the line went dead. In Tennessee, Carol Kennedy's mother frantically sought help and Carol was found in an ugly scene with her skull bashed in.

The case has been wrapped in many layers of mystery, including the discovery of unknown DNA under Kennedy's fingernail in what seemed to be evidence of a defensive action against her attacker. DeMocker, who is accused of killing her to get out of expensive alimony and other divorce-related financial obligations, did not match that DNA and his defense vigorously claimed that was slam dunk evidence exonerating him.

However. The DNA eventually was traced to a man who had no connection whatsoever to Kennedy or DeMocker. In fact, he had died within 24 hours of Kennedy in the same county and had certainly been in no condition to beat anyone to death. He had died of bleeding from failed heart surgery. "In the same county" is the key part--his remains were taken to the same facility as Kennedy's were. His DNA could only have ended up under her fingernail as a result of cross-contamination of the fingernail clippers used by lab personnel.

In spite of the lab snafu, and it certainly is not what anyone wants to see in a murder trial, the cause of death has been confirmed by an outside medical personnel, including Maricopa County's forensic anthropologist, Dr. Laura Fulginitti. Yes, "forensic anthropologist" is the same profession made famous by actress Emily Deschanel as Temperance Brennan in Bones. Real-life bone lady Fulginitti happens to also have done the very gruesome examinations in the dismemberment case in my book, WHAT SHE ALWAYS WANTED about convicted killer Marjorie Orbin.

(click to buy link below)

In my experience with Dr. Fulginitti, if she says a golf club was the murder weapon, you should probably start looking for golf clubs. And in this case she does. Fulginitti's science testimony is, in my experience, a courtroom treat. Her science always flows, as the scientists like to say, "elegantly." In other words, in her hands 1 + 1 always equals 2 and then, voila, you can see that 2 for yourself.

There are many other twists and turns to the DeMocker story and it has caught the attention of national shows that have been in the same obscure Camp Verde courtroom for the James Ray trial. Shhhhhh!!! Don't tell where you heard it, but look for the DeMocker case on a national show coming soon!

Jame's Ray's Judge Warren Darrow is presiding over the DeMocker trial. In the last few days, the also troubled DeMocker case has been kicked upstairs to the presiding judge for possible re-assignment. Trouble is....that Camp Verde Courthouse staff is very small. There's Darrow, the presiding judge himself and only one other who can be considered for the DeMocker case. Presumably, the other two also have heavy workloads but only Darrow has the uber-complicated, unprecedented and Beverly Hills-defended sweat lodge case. (Attys had argued Darrow was too tied up with the James Ray case to give enough time [and courtroom space] to the DeMocker case.)

ADD: If you want to talk about the Ray case, the discussion has gravitated to this post. Join in or start a new thread here. :)

Camille Kimball's books are:

What She Always Wanted

A Sudden Shot

The Mammoth Book of Tough Guys