http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/11899012.htmThe jury award for a woman who sued a Colleyville church saying she was subjected to bruising exorcism attempts shrank to $178,000 after a ruling last week by the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth.
During the trial, references to the alleged exorcisms in 1996 were excluded by an earlier order of the same appellate court. Jurors awarded the money after finding that Schubert had been falsely imprisoned and assaulted. Schubert testified in 2002 that she was cut and bruised and later experienced hallucinations as a result of church members' actions.
In her lawsuit, Schubert said that on
two occasions, several days apart, in June 1996, church members held her down and prayed to drive demons from her. She struggled, which church youth leaders and members took as signs that demons were fighting them, the lawsuit stated.Tom Schubert said his daughter has moved on with her life and is pursuing a college degree in criminal justice. But he said the matter is still unresolved because McCutchen and others have not taken responsibility for injuring his daughter. McCutchen was present during the second incident, according to Laura Schubert's lawsuit.
"I think pastor McCutchen is basically a good man and he got involved in a frenzy of religious fervor," said Tom Schubert, a former Assemblies of God minister and missionary.