By Associated Press
Eau Claire, Wis. — Hmong religious rituals, including one comparable to an exorcism, have helped heal a man found insane and sentenced to a mental hospital for shooting his wife and daughter to death in 1998, a Wisconsin judge was told.
Circuit Judge Benjamin Proctor ordered that Lo Pao Moua, 44, be moved to a minimum-security portion of a Madison, Wis., hospital and undergo new evaluations.
Moua has been visited by a Hmong shaman to cast out an evil spirit that caused Moua to murder his family members, clan leader Peter Moua of St. Paul testified.
The rituals were comparable to a Christian exorcism, Dr. Gary Maier, a psychiatrist who has treated Lo Pao Moua, told the judge. Previously, doctors had problems assessing and treating Moua because they didn’t address cultural differences and didn’t understand the guilt he felt, Maier said. The psychiatrist testified Moua was suitable for conditional release and was no longer suffering from a mental disease.
Five psychiatrists said Moua suffered a severe depressive disorder, causing him to have delusions and hallucinations and preventing him from knowing right from wrong.
Proctor committed Moua to the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison in May 1998. He can only be released from the hospital if doctors believe his mental illness is cured, and if Proctor finds he no longer is a threat to society. |
