Judge Clears Judas Priest of Liability in 2 Suicides

RENO — Hidden words do exist on an album by the British rock band Judas Priest, but they were not placed there intentionally and the group is not responsible for a suicide pact formed by two young fans, a judge ruled today.

Washoe District Judge Jerry Carr Whitehead said the alleged words “do it” were the result of a chance combination of sounds.

The families of the two victims sued the band and CBS Records, claiming messages hidden in the crashing music of the 1978 “Stained Glass” album touted satanism and promoted suicide.

Raymond Belknap, 18, died from a single blast from a shotgun held in his mouth Dec. 23, 1985. James Vance, then 20, blew away the lower portion of his face but survived three more years before his death on Thanksgiving, 1988.

The lawyers contended that subliminal messages, including the words “do it” allegedly hidden in the song “Better by You, Better Than Me,” spurred the shootings. They also charged that the album contained backward messages touting death, satanism and suicide.

The defense maintained the phrases were “phonetic flukes,” given credibility only by the power of suggestion.

In clearing the band of liability, Whitehead said that CBS Records refused to properly comply with discovery orders involving the original master tape of the album. He said the defaults were not caused by the courtroom lawyers but by in-house counsel of CBS. He ordered the company to pay $40,000 to the plaintiffs’ attorneys to reimburse them for the cost of bringing the lawsuit.