JAMES ARTHUR RAY GUILTY IN AZ SWEAT LODGE DEATHS

KILLER

SELF HELP Guru James Arthur Ray has been found guilty in the deaths of three people in an Arizona sweat lodge.
The best selling author of The Secret told people they would find enlightenment on his "Spiritual Warrior" retreat, if they entered the in the lodge, made of willow trees and branches, and covered with tarpaulins and blankets.
He warned participants in a recording of the event played during the trial that the sweat lodge would be "hellacious" and that participants were guaranteed to feel like they were dying but would do so only metaphorically.
He said: "The true spiritual warrior has conquered death and therefore has no fear or enemies in this lifetime or the next, because the greatest fear you'll ever experience is the fear of what? Death."You will have to get a point to where you surrender and it's OK to die."
Sadly Kirby Brown, 38, James Shore, 40, and  Lizbeth Marie Neuman, 49 passed away for real after entering the entering the extremely hot lodge which had stones in the middle that Ray poured water on.
A further 15 fell ill in the sauna like ceremony.
Now Ray has been found guilty of of three counts of negligent homicide Wednesday after a four-month trial and his multimillion-dollar empire is in tatters.
He will be sentenced soon.

JAMES ARTHUR RAY'S TRIAL MUST CONTINUE: JUDGE

SELP help guru James Arthur Ray will continue to stand trial for the death of three people in an Arizona sweat lodge after a judge refused a bid by his attorneys to cut his manslaughter trial short.  Kirby Brown, James Shore and Liz Neuman all died at his "Spiritual Warrior" retreat and the bestselling author of The Secret is accused of being reckless in their deaths.
Prosecutors say Ray conditioned participants through breathing exercises, sleep deprivation, a 36-hour fast and lectures to ignore their bodies' signs of danger.
And as a result in the huge temperatures in the lodge, they died of dehydration.  But Ray's attorneys argued that prosecutors hadn't proved their case and that Ray had no legal duty to check on participants during the sweat lodge ceremony and they moved for the case to be thrown out of court.

In a written motion they wrote: "There is no evidence that Mr. Ray knew the three individuals were dying.
"Ms. Brown, Mr. Shore and Ms. Neuman were all breathing, talking with participants around them, specifically telling others they were `OK' or `fine' and moving until the end of the ceremony."
Arizona Judge Warren Darrow  however refused their request and the defense will have to call their witnesses in the case.