You Were Sexually Assaulted By Whom?

The backstory:

The case surrounded Gennaro Piscopo, the 55-year-old pastor of Evangel Christian Church in Roseville.

In 2003, Piscopo was convicted of sexually assaulting a female church member during a deliverance ceremony in which Piscopo said he expelled the devil from the woman’s body.

The blame has shifted:

Michigan’s high court has agreed to hear the case because a key piece of testimony, about the devil, was not allowed. According to court records, the woman indicated she “had been raped by a demon” and sexually assaulted by Satan himself, who she claimed was living in her attic at the time of the exorcism.

What does Piscopo’s defense lawyer, George Michaels, say about all this?

The woman has also claimed that she was sexually assaulted, during a separate incident, by her own father, who also happens to be a minister. The allegation against the woman’s father was not part of the Piscopo trial, but Michaels said it should have been. “The jury was out for five days. Had they had this information that would have gone toward her credibility.”

Michaels also argued during Wednesday’s appeal that the exorcism by Piscopo was performed in front of more than 100 people. According to Michaels, none of the witnesses said it was inappropriate to touch someone while performing an exorcism.

Can both sides lose this case?

Please?

(Thanks to infideljoe for the link!)

[tags]atheist, atheism, Satan, Christian, Jesus[/tags]

"Ahh, many thanks."

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Richard Wade

Remember Flip Wilson’s routine, “The devil made me do it”? It included the line, “…and then he pulled a gun!”

So my teenage daughter could take over both the living room and the den but a supernatural being has to live in the attic with the rats? Why not just camp out on the sofa near the wet bar with the TV remote and refuse to leave? That sounds better than a stuffy old attic.

Maybe the devil should countersue for defamation of character.
Reed Braden

The judge should have immediately thrown this out and sentenced them both to some sort of mental rehabilitation. Our tax dollars and our judges’ time should not be wasted like this.
Steve Sutton

Satan was living in her attic? Was he renting by the week or by the month?
Jacob Wintersmith

I don’t envy that jury. How do you even begin to figure out who’s testimony is more credible when all of them obviously belong in the loony asylum?
Darryl

What amazes me about tales like this is that millions of Americans around the country hear about this and conclude that she’s nuts but he’s doing the Lord’s work. Exorcism should be outlawed in the U.S. as an ineffectual medical procedure no different than snake-oil quackery.
Karen

Sigh. She should have known this is what happens when you take in boarders. Especially the kind that live in the attic.
salient

Exorcism probably arose as the church’s inept way of dealing with a very real psychiatric condition that results directly from the sort of event the woman is describing. Either way, she needs therapy not a priest.

Of course, those who are willing to believe in omnipotent fathers in the sky are equally unwilling to acknowledge psychiatric realities, particularly uncomfortable realities. This does not prove that both her accusations are accurate, but it is certainly well within the bounds of possibility that they are founded in real events.

Unfortunately, as types such as Larry Craig and Catholic priests demonstrate, many who are plagued by personal demons flee into protesting too much or into prayer in hope of being saved from uncontrollable urges. I suspect that the plethora of pedophiles in the Catholic clergy reflects both the frustration of the unmarried state and the fact that pedophiles would find marriage to an adult unappetizing or threatening.
Mriana

According to court records, the woman indicated she “had been raped by a demon” and sexually assaulted by Satan himself, who she claimed was living in her attic at the time of the exorcism.

Does this mean she is going to have an immaculate conception and give birth to Satan’s child? Oh Hemant! You are finding stories that are a real HOOT! 😆

Someone needs to be committed. Probably the whole lot of them! Regardless if the one or both cases lose or win in court.
Darryl

this is old news: see the film Rosemary’s Baby.
Darryl

How come the Devil always gets a bum rap? What’s she complaining about? You know the horned guy has gotta’ be packin’
Mriana

😆 Rosemary’s Baby. Darryl, our minds think almost alike on this one.
Darryl

Mri, it scares me to think that there’s someone else out there that’s as twisted as me! ha!
Mriana

😆 Well you saw my comment- immaculate conception of Satan’s baby is actually Rosemary’s Baby when you think about it. So our thinking was similarly twisted.
Joe M

Devil in the attic?

Worst grandafther clause EVER!