Processo ad Arne Johnson: differenze tra le versioni

Versione delle 17:52, 8 mag 2011

Versione delle 11:38, 27 lug 2011

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{{T|lingua=inglese|argomento=pseudoscienza|data=ottobre 2010}}

Il '''processo ad Arne Cheyenne Johnson''' del 1981, anche conosciuto come il "''Demon Murder Trial''" (let. "processo al demonio assassino", "assassino indemoniato") è stato un noto caso giudiziario seguito dalla Corte Superiore del Connecticut contro Arne Johnson, reo confesso dell'omicidio di Alan Bono, suo padrone di casa. <ref name="nyt">{{citeCita web|datedata=1981-11-25 novembre 1981|authorautore=|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E2D91638F936A15752C1A967948260|titletitolo=THE REGION; Man Is Convicted In Friend's Death |publishereditore=[[New York Times]]|accessdateaccesso=August 17, agosto 2008}}</ref>

Il caso è passato alle cronache per aver formulato un precedente nella storia legale americana, dove un avvocato difende il proprio cliente basandosi sulle presunte prove di una condizione di influenzamento psicologico dovuta ad una possessione demoniaca al momento del reato contestato. Johnson, prima che compiesse l'omicidio, fu visitato dagli investigatori del paranormale [[Edward Warren Miney|Edward e Lorraine Warren]], su richiesta di suo fratello minore, i quali accertarono la possessione. <ref name="people">{{citeCita web|datedata=1981-10-26 ottobre 1981|authorautore=Lynne Baranski|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20080531,00.html|titletitolo=In a Connecticut Murder Trial, Will (demonic) Possession Prove Nine-Tenths of the Law?|publishereditore=[[People Magazine]]|accessdateaccesso=August17 17,agosto 2008}}</ref>

La giuria deliberò per 15 ore nell'arco di tre giorni prima di decidere sul giudizio di Johnson. Il 24 novembre 1981, fu condannato a espiare dai 10 a 20 anni di prigione per omicidio colposo di primo grado, dei quali ne scontò solo 5. <ref name="nyt"/> <ref name="brothers">{{citeCita web|datedata=8 ottobre 2007-10-08|authorautore=Alex Murphy|url=http://www.mmdnewswire.com/brors-sue-world-fmous-psychic-lorrine-wrren-for-flse-ccustis-in-devil-book-2347-2.html|titletitolo=Brothers sue world famous psychic Lorraine Warren for false accusations in Devil book|publishereditore=Mass Media Distribution Newswire|accessdateaccesso=August 17, agosto 2008}}</ref> <ref name="courant2">{{citeCita web|datedata=2007-10-14 ottobre 2007|authorautore=Melissa Pionzio|url=http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19688/the-devil-in-connecticut|titletitolo=Factual Exorcism Book Evokes Past Pain|publishereditore=[[The Hartford Courant]]|accessdateaccesso=August 17, agosto 2008}}</ref>

L'autore della ripubblicazione di ''The Devil in Connecticut'' di Britlle, [[Carl Glatzel Jr.]], dichiarò che la storia della possessione demoniaca era una bufala inventata dai coniugi Warren per pubblicizzare la loro attività, sfruttando la disabilità mentale di Johnson e la debolezza emotiva della famiglia dovuta alla situazione dell'epoca. <ref name="danbury">{{citeCita web|datedata=10 ottobre 2007-10-10|authorautore=John Piro|url=http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19687/devil-in-connecticut|titletitolo=Brookfield man sues over ‘demon’ book|publishereditore=The News-Times|accessdateaccesso=August 17, agosto 2008}}</ref>

== Nella cultura popolare ==

* Il caso fu descritto nel libro ''[[The Devil in Connecticut]]'' di [[Gerald Brittle]]. <ref name="recordjournal"/> <ref name="The Devil in Connecticut">{{citeCita booklibro|lastcognome=Brittle|firstnome=Gerald|titletitolo=The Devil in Connecticut|publishereditore=[[Bantam Books]]|datedata=1983|isbnid=ISBN 9780553237146|url=http://books.google.com/?id=VsmvAAAACAAJ}}</ref>

* Nel 1983 è uscito per la televisione un film intitolato ''[[Ostaggio per il demonio]]'', diretto da [[William Hale (regista)|William Hale]] e con [[Kevin Bacon]] tra i principali interpreti. <ref name="danbury"/> <ref name="recordjournal">{{citeCita journalpubblicazione|datedata=10 ottobre 2007-10-10|authorautore=John Christoffersen|titletitolo=Suit vs. psychic says demon murder was hoax |publisher=Record-Journal|accessdateaccesso=August 18, agosto 2008}}</ref>

<!-- ==Events preceding the attack==

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==The attack==

On February 16, 1981, Johnson called in sick to his job at Wright Tree Service, claiming he had a sore throat.<ref name="post">{{citeCita journalpubblicazione|datedata=1981-09-13|authorautore=Lynn Darling|titletitolo=By Demons Possessed|publisher=[[Washington Post]]|accessdateaccesso=2008-August -18, 2008}}</ref> He joined his girlfriend Debbie at the animal clinic where she worked along with her sister and cousin. Alan Bono, the couple's 40 year old landlord and Debbie's employer at the kennel, bought the whole group lunch at a local bar, with Bono, Johnson, and Debbie all drinking wine, Bono more than the rest of the group.<ref name="post"/> After lunch, the group returned to the dog kennels, where Johnson fixed Bono's stereo, which blared noisily.<ref name="post"/> Debbie then took the girls to get pizza, but insisted they return quickly, saying "There's going to be trouble."<ref name="post"/> When they returned, Bono invited everyone up to his apartment above the kennel, and when the television was turned on, it too was very loud, and Bono became agitated, punching his fist into his palm.<ref name="post"/> Everyone left the room at Debbie's urging, except Bono, who seized Debbie's nine year old cousin Mary and would not let go.<ref name="post"/> Johnson, who had walked to the car, headed back to the apartment and told Bono to release Mary.<ref name="post"/> Wanda Johnson, who recounted her story to the police, stated that "it just broke".<ref name="post"/> Mary ran for the car, as Debbie stood between the two men.<ref name="post"/> Wanda, who was holding on to Johnson, remembers he was "like stone", and couldn't be moved. Wanda heard Johnson growling like an animal, saw a flash through the air, and stated that "it just stopped".<ref name="post"/> Johnson walked towards the woods, staring straight ahead, and Bono continued to punch his fist into his palm, before falling on his face.<ref name="post"/> Bono had suffered "four or five tremendous wounds" according to Johnson's lawyer from a {{convert|5|in|mm|sing=on}} pocket knife, mostly on his chest, and one that stretched from his stomach to the base of his heart.<ref name="post"/> Bono died several hours later from his wounds.<ref>{{citeCita booklibro|lastcognome=Bean|firstnome=Phillip|titletitolo=Crime|publishereditore=Taylor & Francis|datedata=2003|pagespagine=17|isbnid=ISBN 9780415252683|url=http://books.google.com/?id=HFeOTY8hMpoC}}</ref> Johnson was discovered two miles (3&nbsp;km) from the site of the murder and was held at the Bridgeport Correctional Center on bail of 125,000 [[USD]].<ref name="people"/> It was the first murder in the history of [[Brookfield, Connecticut]].<ref name="people">{{citeCita web|datedata=1981-10-26 ottobre 1981|authorautore=Lynne Baranski|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20080531,00.html|titletitolo=In a Connecticut Murder Trial, Will (demonic) Possession Prove Nine-Tenths of the Law?|publishereditore=[[People Magazine]]|accessdateaccesso=August17 17,agosto 2008}}</ref>

==Media reaction and legal proceedings==

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Lorraine Warren called Brookfield police the day after the murder to tell them that Johnson was possessed.<ref name="post"/> A "media blitz" began to surround the story, and the Warrens began to spread the story throughout the press, promising to lecture about it, write a book, and make a movie about it through their agents at William Morris.<ref name="post"/> Martin Minella, Johnson's lawyer, said he received calls from all over the world about the case, and news spread to the point that Minella was recognized on the streets of London by passersby.<ref name="post"/> Minella traveled to England to meet with lawyers who had been involved in two similar cases (though neither ever went to trial), planned to fly in exorcism specialists from Europe, and threatened to subpoena the priests involved if they would not cooperate.<ref name="people"/><ref name="post"/>

The trial took place in Danbury, Connecticut Superior Court beginning on October 28, 1981.<ref name="people"/><ref name="brook">{{citeCita web|datedata=2007-10-12|authorautore=Scott Benjamin|url=http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18911235&BRD=1656&PAG=461&dept_id=13278&rfi=6|titletitolo='Devil' book reissuance leads to suit |publishereditore=Brookfield Journal|accessdateaccesso=2008-August -17, 2008}}</ref> Minella entered the unprecedented plea of not guilty by virtue of possession by the [[devil]], but the presiding judge, Robert Callahan, rejected Johnson's lawyer's attempt to show that Johnson was under the influence of a demon at the time of the murder. Callahan stated that there was no such defense, and it would be "irrelative and unscientific" to allow such testimony, forcing the defense attorney to argue instead that Johnson acted in self-defense.<ref name="people"/><ref name="nyt"/><ref name="brothers"/> The jury thus never heard Minella's theory.<ref name="courant2">{{citeCita web|datedata=14 ottobre 2007-10-14|authorautore=Melissa Pionzio|url=http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19688/the-devil-in-connecticut|titletitolo=Factual Exorcism Book Evokes Past Pain|publishereditore=[[The Hartford Courant]]|accessdateaccesso=August17 17,agosto 2008}}</ref> The jury deliberated for 15 hours over three days before convicting Johnson on November 24, 1981, of first-degree [[manslaughter]], and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison, of which he served 5.<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="brothers"/><ref name="courant2"/>

==Aftermath==

After he served his sentence, Johnson went on to marry his fiancee.<ref name="danbury"/> The alleged incident led to the creation of a [[Television movie|made for TV movie]] called ''The Demon Murder Case'' on [[NBC]] and a [[major motion picture]] which has stalled due to internal conflicts.<ref name="danbury"/><ref name="recordjournal">{{citeCita journalpubblicazione|datedata=10 ottobre 2007-10-10|authorautore=John Christoffersen|titletitolo=Suit vs. psychic says demon murder was hoax |publisher=Record-Journal|accessdateaccesso=August18 18,agosto 2008}}</ref> In 1983, Gerald Brittle, with the assistance of Lorraine Warren, published a book about the incident entitled ''The Devil in Connecticut'', which Lorraine Warren says the profits of which were shared with the family.<ref name="recordjournal"/><ref name="The Devil in Connecticut">{{citeCita booklibro|lastcognome=Brittle|firstnome=Gerald|titletitolo=The Devil in Connecticut|publishereditore=[[Bantam Books]]|datedata=1983|isbnid=ISBN 9780553237146|url=http://books.google.com/?id=VsmvAAAACAAJ}}</ref> Two-thousand dollars was paid by the book publisher to the family.<ref name="recordjournal"/> Upon the books republication in 2006 by iUniverse Inc., Carl Glatzel Jr. and David Glatzel sued the authors and book publishers for violating their [[right to privacy]], [[libel]], and "intentional affliction of emotional distress"; further, he claims the book alleges he committed criminal and abusive acts against his family and others.<ref name="brothers">{{citeCita web|datedata=8 ottobre 2007-10-08|authorautore=Alex Murphy|url=http://www.mmdnewswire.com/brors-sue-world-fmous-psychic-lorrine-wrren-for-flse-ccustis-in-devil-book-2347-2.html|titletitolo=Brothers sue world famous psychic Lorraine Warren for false accusations in Devil book|publishereditore=Mass Media Distribution Newswire|accessdateaccesso=August17 17,agosto 2008}}</ref> <ref name="courant2"/> Carl Glatzel Jr. has stated that the possession story was a hoax concocted by [[Ed and Lorraine Warren]] to exploit the family and his brother's mental illness, and that the book presents him as the villain because he disbelieved in the supernatural claims.<ref name="danbury"/> He also asserts that the Warrens said that the story would make the family "millionaires", and would help get Johnson out of jail.<ref name="brothers"/> He is currently writing a book titled ''Alone Through The Valley'' about his version of the events surrounding his brother.<ref name="brothers"/> Further, the publicity generated by the alleged incident forced Carl to drop out of school, and lost friends and business opportunities.<ref name="danbury"/> Lorraine Warren defends her work with the family, claiming that the six priests who were involved in the incident agreed at the time that the boy was possessed, and that the supernatural events she described were real.<ref name="danbury"/> Gerald Brittle, the book's author, says he wrote the book because "the family wanted the story told", that he possesses video of over 100 hours of his interviews with the family, and that they signed off on the book as accurate before it went to print.<ref name="danbury"/> Glatzel's father, Carl Glatzel Senior, denies telling the author that his son was possessed.<ref name="recordjournal"/> Johnson and his wife Debbie believe the account of demonic possession to be true, and that Glatzel is suing to make money.<ref name="recordjournal"/> -->

== Note ==