Woman flees demons

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Tennessee woman fleeing ‘demons’ dies after crashing stolen truck with family, friend inside

ATOKA, Tenn. — A Tennessee mother was killed in a wreck Monday after authorities say she stole a county-owned truck from Memphis, put her daughter and adopted children inside, and drove to Arkansas because they were "possessed by demons."

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Rosalind Craig (submitted)

The Pulaski County Sheriff's Office said 41-year-old Rosalind Craig was killed around 5:30 a.m. when the Chevrolet Silverado she was driving slammed head-on into a Union Pacific utility truck on a two-lane road north of Little Rock. A witness said Craig's truck crossed the center line, according to WREG.

The sheriff's office said the passengers in Craig's truck included her daughter, a friend, and her adopted children. They, along with the driver of the Union Pacific truck, were taken to hospitals but their injuries were not serious.

According to witnesses, Craig stole a Shelby County-owned truck with government plates and then drove aimlessly through Arkansas.

Craig told her passengers she was “taking them on the other side of Heaven to meet Jesus” and that they were "leaving the Memphis area due to being possessed by demons," according to witness reports.

Craig's friends were stunned by the news.

"She loved her kids. This is just not in her character at all," Jossie Dunlap told WREG.

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office said the truck was a non-emergency sheriff's vehicle that was stolen around 11 p.m. Sunday from their location in the 1000 block of Mullins Station in Memphis.

Lt. Anthony Buckner with SCSO said Craig had no ties to the sheriff's department and they are reviewing video to see how the truck was stolen.

Craig's family members say they're saddened and confused. They said they didn't think she would have intentionally put her children in danger. And they also don't understand why she would've stolen a vehicle, especially when she had two of her own.

A day before she died, Craig's mother called the police to her home after an altercation with her daughter and her daughter's friend.

"[Rosalind] was telling my kids there were demons in the house, and I had demons in me. She looked like ... she looked evil," Craig's mother said.
 
To anyone's knowledge, has a US court of law ever accepted a claim of demonic possession as a defense?
 
To anyone's knowledge, has a US court of law ever accepted a claim of demonic possession as a defense?
Not to my knowledge. I believe they have heard the defense put forth before but as a mental health claim.
 
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Not to my knowledge. I believe they have heard the defense put forth before but as a mental health claim.

Yes, but I wonder what would happen if a murderer claimed possession, and was was given a clean bill of mental health by a court appointed psychiatric facility? Then say the defense presented Roman Catholic priests certified by the church as exorcists who testified under oath they exorcised a demon from the defendant after the murder. Would be interesting to hear how the judge would instruct the jury prior to their deliberation.
 
Yes, but I wonder what would happen if a murderer claimed possession, and was was given a clean bill of mental health by a court appointed psychiatric facility? Then say the defense presented Roman Catholic priests certified by the church as exorcists who testified under oath they exorcised a demon from the defendant after the murder. Would be interesting to hear how the judge would instruct the jury prior to their deliberation.
That has always been an interesting scenerio. Believe it or not, I do personally know of a case where this was presented but not with the priest back up, etc. It got blamed as mental health. The man was on death row, but has now on appeal been moved to a life sentence. I know the particulars of the case as a good friend is a direct relative of the murderer. Somewhere on this forum lives a thread about that. I'll have to see if I can find that one.
 
He has told his cousin (my friend) that he felt that a demon has control of him. He's said that from the beginning.
 
I wonder if a priest could be compelled under subpoena to testify in such a scenario? I don't know if there is something analogous to the seal of the confessional relative to a church sponsored/approved exorcism? Exorcism is a rite, not a Sacrament.
 
This is how it was presented by the lawyers:

Overstreet's attorneys will present psychiatrists who will testify that the teenager's killer is a paranoid schizophrenic, delusional and hearing voices no one else can hear, seeing things no one else can see.
 
This is how it was presented by the lawyers:

Overstreet's attorneys will present psychiatrists who will testify that the teenager's killer is a paranoid schizophrenic, delusional and hearing voices no one else can hear, seeing things no one else can see.

Raises the question whether psychiatrists could/would distinguish between mental illness and possession? Sounds like symptoms of both are similar.