Self-help guru and author James Arthur Ray was sentenced Friday for the deaths of three people in a sweat-lodge at his Spiritual Warrior Retreat. He was convicted of three counts of negligent homicide after a 4-month trial earlier this year.
Ray was sentenced to 2 years in prison and must pay $57,000 in restitution. He apologized in pre-sentencing hearings. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. At the end of the day, I lost three friends, and I lost them on my watch. ... Whatever errors in judgment or mistakes I made, I'm going to have to live with those for the rest of my life,” he said.
Kirby Brown, 38, James Shore, 40, and Liz Neuman, 49, died in October 2009 during a “cleansing” ceremony Ray led as a part of his annual 5-day retreat at the Angel Valley Retreat Center. The ceremony included 36 hours of fasting and sitting in a sauna-like hut. Eighteen other people were injured in the hut.
###
Click here for more Law News
