Court to Address Whether Assault Protected by Constitution

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

In June a divided Texas State Supreme Court ruled that almost all actions by the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God staff and members are protected by the First Amendment because it involves a dispute over religious conduct. Laura Schubert Pearson had described a wild night in 1996 that involved casting out demons from the church and two attempts to exorcise demons from her. Just 17 at the time, Pearson says the emotional, and physical pain caused that night made her attempt suicide later. At trial, a jury found the church and its members liable and awarded Schubert $300,000 for mental anguish. An appeals court cut that to $178,000. But when the case was posed to the Texas Supreme Court the justices handed down a 6-3 decision that said the church was protected under "Freedom of Religion" provisions of the constitution. Justice David Medina wrote that for the court to impose any legal liability on members would possibly have an unconstitutional ‘chilling effect’ by compelling the church to abandon core principles. In a stinging dissent, Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson said the majority’s opinion is an “overly broad holding” that conflicts with well-settled legal and constitutional principles that could “prove to be dangerous in practice.” The Supreme Court is expected to announce whether they will take the case up in mid to late January