Crimes - Criminals - Judges - Lawyers - Trials

Apr. 17 Trial About Exorcism: On March 30th, 1978 opened at the Superior Court in Aschaffenburg, (West-Germany) the trial about a case of exorcism, of which in 1976 died Anneliese Michel, a 23-year-old girl. The student, living in Klingenberg, a little town in Franconia, was an epileptic, but she and her parents thought, she was possessed by the devil. In summer 1975 the bishop Josef Stangl of Wurzburg (FRG) entrusted the two Catholic priests Ernst Alt and Wilhelm Renz, to exorcize the devil with the canonical Orders of the Rituale Romanum of 1914. On July 1st, 1976 the emaciated girl died of circulatory disturbance, for the parents neglected to call for a doctor. Now her parents, Josef and Anna Michel, and the two priests are charged with manslaughter in the second degree. Photo shows The priests Ernst Alt (left) and WIlhelm Renz

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23-year-old Anneliese Aschaffenburg Canonical Charged Circulatory Degree Disturbance Emaciated Entrusted Epileptic Exorcism Franconia Klingenberg Manslaughter Neglected Possessed Priests Renz Romanum Stangl Superior Wurzburg

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