Leader in Sweat Lodge Deaths Charged With Manslaughter

Ariz. court sets $5M bond for James Ray

By Will McCahill, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 3, 2010 7:41 PM CST

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Leader in Sweat Lodge Deaths Charged With Manslaughter — James Arthur Ray was charged today in Arizona with three counts of manslaughter for deaths that happened after a sweat lodge ceremony he led in northern Arizona in October. (AP Photo)

The self-help guru whose Arizona sweat-lodge ceremony resulted in three deaths in October was indicted today on manslaughter charges—charges James Arthur Ray’s lawyer calls “unjust.” The Yavapai County Sheriff “hopes the families of the three victims will now have some measure of closure to this tragedy,” it said in a statement, referencing Kirby Brown, James Shore and Liz Neuman.

Bond for Ray, 52, was set at $5 million. “This was a terrible accident—but it was an accident, not a criminal act,” Ray’s lawyer tells ABC News. “We will now present this evidence in a court of law, and we are confident that Mr. Ray will be exonerated.”
(More James Arthur Ray stories.)

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