2 Found Guilty of Manslaughter in Exorcism

Ruling that two Korean Christian missionaries who performed a deadly exorcism were trying to heal, not harm, a judge cleared them of murder charges Wednesday in a case experts called a potential landmark in California criminal law.

Ending a three-week trial in Malibu that he said raised “novel and significant issues” of religion and culture, Superior Court Judge James A. Albracht found Jae-Whoa Chung, 50, and Sung Soo Choi, 47, guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the stomping death of Chung’s wife during a demon-cleansing ritual.

Her body was covered with bruises and scrapes. According to testimony, 16 ribs were broken, the muscles in her thighs were so damaged the tissue had died, her internal organs were displaced and crushed, and a vein leading to her heart was torn. Chung and Choi have been jailed since their arrests July 4 for the murder of 53-year-old Kyung-Ja Chung. They face no more than four years in state prison; had they been convicted of second-degree murder they would have faced 15 years to life.