Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2005, Page 77
Marcus Wesson
Prosecution May Use Mind Control Argument
Prosecutors in the trial of Marcus Wesson will reportedly seek testimony from mind control
experts to suggest that Wesson, charged with killing nine of his children in Fresno, CA, last
year, actually influenced one of his daughters to commit the crimes before killing herself. A
similar strategy was used to convict Charles Manson.
At a December hearing, police said Wesson dominated and sexually abused his insular
family, and that he said he ruled them as Christ. They suggest also that he devised a
murder-suicide pact to be triggered if police or Child Protective Services personnel — whom
he called devils — tried to dissolve his family, (Matt Leedy, Fresno Bee, Internet, 1/5/05)
Raymond Russell George/Jacob
Trial Set for Molester "Jacob"
Raymond Russell George, 57, will stand trial in Reno, NV, in the spring on charges he
molested and raped two teenage girls in his ―fantasy room‖ and mentally and physically
abused their younger brother.
Authorities say George and his common-law wife lived with the two girls, ages 13 and 14,
while the girls‘ parents lived in an adjacent apartment with their 11-year-old son. The group
―behaved like a religious cult,‖ recognizing George, whom they called Jacob, as their leader.
The girls at first denied they were raped, saying they were married to George and behaved
as wives should. Their mother and father have pleaded guilty to one count of child
endangerment and are serving five- and three-year prison terms, respectively, while the
common-law wife was sentenced to six years. The girls now live with their grandparents.
(Martha Bellisle, Reno Gazette-Journal, Internet, 11/17/04)
Recovered Memories
Priest Found Guilty Despite Expert Testimony
Former Roman Catholic priest Paul Shanley has been found guilty in Boston of raping young
parishioners — one among several he allegedly raped between 1979 and 1989 — despite
testimony from an expert psychologist [Elizabeth Loftus, of the University of California at
Irvine], who said that evidence of a victim‘s recently recovered memories of alleged long-
ago abuse rested on faulty science. (AP in CNN News, Internet, 2/8/05)
Marcus Wesson
Prosecution May Use Mind Control Argument
Prosecutors in the trial of Marcus Wesson will reportedly seek testimony from mind control
experts to suggest that Wesson, charged with killing nine of his children in Fresno, CA, last
year, actually influenced one of his daughters to commit the crimes before killing herself. A
similar strategy was used to convict Charles Manson.
At a December hearing, police said Wesson dominated and sexually abused his insular
family, and that he said he ruled them as Christ. They suggest also that he devised a
murder-suicide pact to be triggered if police or Child Protective Services personnel — whom
he called devils — tried to dissolve his family, (Matt Leedy, Fresno Bee, Internet, 1/5/05)
Raymond Russell George/Jacob
Trial Set for Molester "Jacob"
Raymond Russell George, 57, will stand trial in Reno, NV, in the spring on charges he
molested and raped two teenage girls in his ―fantasy room‖ and mentally and physically
abused their younger brother.
Authorities say George and his common-law wife lived with the two girls, ages 13 and 14,
while the girls‘ parents lived in an adjacent apartment with their 11-year-old son. The group
―behaved like a religious cult,‖ recognizing George, whom they called Jacob, as their leader.
The girls at first denied they were raped, saying they were married to George and behaved
as wives should. Their mother and father have pleaded guilty to one count of child
endangerment and are serving five- and three-year prison terms, respectively, while the
common-law wife was sentenced to six years. The girls now live with their grandparents.
(Martha Bellisle, Reno Gazette-Journal, Internet, 11/17/04)
Recovered Memories
Priest Found Guilty Despite Expert Testimony
Former Roman Catholic priest Paul Shanley has been found guilty in Boston of raping young
parishioners — one among several he allegedly raped between 1979 and 1989 — despite
testimony from an expert psychologist [Elizabeth Loftus, of the University of California at
Irvine], who said that evidence of a victim‘s recently recovered memories of alleged long-
ago abuse rested on faulty science. (AP in CNN News, Internet, 2/8/05)
