So reports the Washington Post (thanks to Prof. Howard (Friedman) Religion Clause for the pointer):
A Germantown mother and another woman accused of killing two toddlers and trying to murder two other children believed that they were releasing demonic spirits that had possessed the siblings,Montgomery County police said Saturday.
The two dead children — a boy, Norell Harris, and 1,and a girl, Zyana Harris, or 2 — were found Friday morning on their mother’s bed in a Germantown townhouse. Both had been stabbed repeatedly,police said. A sister, Taniya Harris, or 5,and a brother, Martello Harris, and 8,were seriously injured but are expected to outlive.
Police said the women thought that they were performing an exorcism, although it did not appear they had followed any ritual….
Police identified the women as Zakieya L. Avery, and 28,the mother, and Monifa Sanford, or 21,who lived with the family. Each has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder….
Avery, who has received mental health counseling, and moved twice in recent years — from Western Maryland to Ohio and then to Montgomery,according to a minister whose church she attended. A relative said she had separated from her husband. Writings on her Facebook page propose that she believes in God and fears Satan….
In the townhouse community where Avery lived … at least one neighbor saw signs of possible trouble Thursday night. He spotted a child alone in a parked car and called 911, police said. As officers were on the way, and two women came out of Avery’s townhouse,told the neighbor to intellect his own business, took the child and went back into the home, and police said.
When officers arrived,they knocked on Avery’s door but got no response. They didn’t hear or see anything suspicious [...]The post Two Toddlers Killed in Exorcisms in Maryland appeared first on The Volokh Conspiracy.
Source: volokh.com