DEATH BY EXORCISM RULED INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER.

Byline: Associated Press

A woman's death during a brutal, five-hour exorcism ritual was involuntary manslaughter and not murder, a judge ruled Wednesday in convicting the exorcist and the victim's husband of the lesser crime.

Superior Court Judge James A. Albracht rejected prosecution demands for second-degree murder verdicts against charismatic Christian missionaries Jae-Whoa Chung, 50, and exorcist Sung Soo Choi, 47.

The ruling followed a three-week, nonjury trial.

``These men, misguided as they were, did not act in conscious disregard for human life,'' the judge said. ``These defendants were at all times acting in conscience and good faith in healing the victim.''

They face up to four years in prison when sentenced April 24. A second-degree murder conviction would have meant prison for 15 years to life.

The death of Kyung Jae Chung, 53, on July 4 in a borrowed Century City condominium pitted cultural and religious beliefs against the state of California. The trial was closely followed by the Korean-American community.

Deputy District Attorney Hank Goldberg displayed gruesome autopsy photographs during closing arguments Tuesday.

``We're talking about crushing someone to death,'' the prosecutor said.

Sixteen 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.

Defense lawyers insisted their clients, along with Kyung Jae Chung, fervently believed they were waging a life-and-death battle with a powerful demon named Legion.

Attorney James Barnes had said during his closing argument that the situation was ``a classic, passionate struggle between good and evil'' in which the men believed the demon was endangering Kyung Jae Chung's life.

The defendants resorted to a ritual known as ansukido, which combined Korean folk traditions for ridding people of spirits with the charismatic Christian practice of laying on of hands.

``These are men of God,'' defense attorney Robert Sheahen said after the judge's verdict.

Choi's sponsoring church, Glendale Calvary Presbyterian Church, along with other Southern California Korean Presbyterian church groups have denounced the practice as heretical.

The prosecution's chief witness was Glendale Calvary deacon Jin Hyun Choi, who testified under a plea bargain in which he will serve no more than four years for involuntary manslaughter. He is not related to the exorcist.

``We feel gratified that the judge was sensitive to the fact . . . that both men were involved in what they believed to be a religious healing ceremony and that they were very, very concerned about Mrs. Chung's well-being and wanted to expel this demon that she had suffered from for 27 years,'' Barnes said.