I previously wrote about Joshua Mauldin, who was convicted of microwaving his infant daughter; yesterday he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. His wife, Eva (who wasn’t there when it happened, so she wasn’t charged), claimed that the devil made him commit that crime, and he pled insanity. In another unrelated case, Jan David Clark claimed that the devil made him kill his wife during an “exorcism“.
That got me wondering about how common it is for people to use the “devil made me do it” excuse for committing heinous crimes. I didn’t have to wonder for long, since another man was sentenced just yesterday to 40 years in prison, for killing a three-month-old and breaking bones on a three-year-old, and he used that same tired excuse.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A St. Albans man who said the devil made him be cruel to his children has been sentenced to four decades in prison for the February 2007 shaking death of his 3-month-old son.
Thirty-three-year-old Joseph Edwin Dawson pleaded guilty in January to charges of child abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian causing death and child abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian causing injury.
The 40-year sentence handed down yesterday by a Kanawha County Circuit judge is the maximum possible for the fatal charge. Dawson also received a consecutive one-to-five-year sentence for the injury charge, which stemmed from an incident in which he broke the clavicle of his 3-year-old stepson in May 2006.
In a June letter to his now ex-wife, Dawson detailed the abuse of the children but said it was Satan who was controlling his actions.
Just for the record, in my opinion, anyone who kills a child through violence or gross neglect should get an automatic sentence of life without parole; and in especially heinous cases, such as Nixzmary Brown, they should get the death penalty. Either way, anyone who is violent toward the most helpless in our society - children, the elderly, or the disabled - should be removed from society permanently to ensure it never, ever happens again.
Is the devil really making people commit murder? Or are people blaming ol’ Beelzebub to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions?
I personally think the answer to that question is pretty obvious. However, I would be very interested to hear from anyone who believes these people really are possessed by the devil.
Personally, I think people don’t know how to take responsibility for their actions. Now, I realize I am making a generalization…but, in general, people are told time and again that they are not in control of themselves, if evil happens it has to be because of the Devil…and some parents allow their children to get away with anything and make the excuses for them and then they grow up thinking that they can do no wrong, that is someone else’s fault.
I kinda understand in that I would have a hard time believing my Babyhead could commit a horrible crime…however, I am a big proponent of personal responsibility and I would never make excuses for him or expect him to not be punished.
I think if people DID take more responsibility for their actions, then many of these crimes wouldn’t take place.
I really don’t know if anyone REALLY believes the devil made these people do it or not…so I am curious myself of what others think as well.
That excuse just angers me on several levels.
First, it is a very lame attempt to escape personal responsibility. Our country/world would be in a much better shape if people took responsibility for their own actions rather than always looking for an out.
Second as someone who has a Masters in Theology I know that argument just doesn’t fly. The only way the “devil made him do it” would be if the guy is demon pocesed. For there would have to be a history of problems similar to mental illness possibly manifested might look something like multiple personalities. The Devil is not capable of planting thoughts in a persons head.
However, whatever reasons it seems that this guy is just very sick and twisted.
Thanks, Dee. I was actually wondering if people actually believe the devil can just plant thoughts in a person’s head.
That seems to be what these people are saying. Of course, in the case of the man who killed his wife during an “exorcism”, he claims the devil went into his body from her body, and caused him to kill her. He never did say where the devil went from there, though.
Hi, Sandy. I think you make an excellent point about why it is so important for parents to hold their children accountable.
Personal responsibility is (in my opinion) the most important lesson anyone can teach their children.
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Some people do believe the devil can put ideas in their heads but don’t think there are many in that camp.
DH
WPPM: You posted that same exact thing on my other blog, Last Free Voice, including your concern that we “protect human beings from UFO experiments”. LOL
The vast majority of cases that involve heinous crimes such as these are a consequence of either mental degradation or drug addiction. The “devil made me do it” has always been a convenient excuse for many over the ages. It is just that these perpetrators receive their due punishment by a legal court, and hopefully one that is severe. However, in my experience, and as hoakie as it may sound, there are a few cases that appear to have no medical or social root as their cause. The Catholic Church is very careful these days (as it should be) in publicly stating in court cases that a heinous crime is indeed a result of demonic possession. Proving that demonic possession was the cause of heinous crime in downright nearly impossible in a court of law. The examples you provide are indeed evil in nature, but there is no way one can figure out if those crimes are committed due to insanity, drug psychosis, or that dreaded and convenient “the devil made me do it” excuse. I will never leave out the possibility that demonic influence has a hand in cases like these. Too many folks from my family and my old neighborhood with law enforcement training have been “spooked” by things that that could not be explained by medical or sociological sources. If you would like for me to expand more on this subject, just let me know. Thanks for the post.
Hi, Believer! Sure, I’d like if you expanded on the subject. I find it interesting, and I’m sure my readers will as well.
Believer makes some very valid & solid points. No normal human being would do the sort of evil Maudlin did. So the guy is mostly under the influence of drugs or some other substance, mentally unstable or possibly the result of demonic or Satan’s influence.
Form a Christian perspective the Doctrine of Original Sin states that after the first sin committed by Adam & Eve evil entered the world and all humans inherited a sin nature. Some would argue that apart from God all humans are totally depraved and evil. Others would argue that a sin nature does not necessarily make humans evil. From a biblical standpoint sin is anything that meet God’s standard. According to the Doctrine of Original Sin we live in a less than ideal, fallen world.
Let’s assume that Maudlin was under some sort of demonic influence. How did he get that way? Was it just a want time thing? Or was he just hoodwinked by Satan into doing bad things? From research, I have done most likely he did or was involved in things that caused him to be more suspectable to Satan’s influences.
I still don’t by the Devil made it defense though.
DH
I am a firefighter by profession. In the mid 1980s, my unit was called in an emergency to rescue an acutely ill, weak, middle-aged woman that could not get out of bed in her home. Of course, the woman’s family called EMS for assistance, and the Fire Department is always dispatched in cases such as these to assist in any way it can. Anyway, when we arrived at the location where the woman resided, we discovered that the ambulance had already arrived. As I entered, I noticed that the medical personnel were talking to the woman about taking her to a local hospital for treatment. She calmly refused to go, but her family insisted that we take her. By law, we couldn’t do anything against the woman’s will. As we were leaving, one of the medical professionals (who I believe knew someone from that family) asked the woman’s sister to pray for the woman’s health. Well, what ensued was nothing short of bedlam. The woman rose from her bed and raced toward both the sister and the medical professional, yelling profanities, and tried to choke them. Now, there were five, big beefy men there, and we could barely hold her. I tried with all my might (I am 6′2″ and weighed 230 lbs. at the time) to restrain her, and the woman overpowered me and the others (who were roughly my size as well). Eventually, we subdued her and restrained her with handcuffs, all the while she’s yelling absolutely horrendous things at us. But this is the kicker, one of my colleagues, tried to calm her down. She looked at him and smiled, and said, “How long are you going to pretend that you don’t know that your wife is f***ing another man?” We were all thrown into a loop, confused and disoriented, not believing what we were hearing. Not believing her (she was obviously delirious from her illness, right?), my colleague continued to talk with her. Then she pointed to our other colleague and said that he was the “bas****” that was “f***king” her. One thing led to another and both men began fighting, all the while she was laughing hysterically. Eventually, we took her to the hospital, now that we were convince that she was mentally disturbed. While we were leaving (here’s another kicker), she turned and called me by my childhood name, and I didn’t even grow up in that city. We were all spooked about this incident and no one really talked about it after it was all over. As the ambulance took her, she laughed at us with such hysterics that it sounded very evil. Now, I can’t prove that the woman was possessed, but all logical explanations don’t seem to fit here, do they?
Believer,
I would agree with your assessment that the women was probably possessed. I too have encounter people under demonic possession.
My comments were not intended to say that people can’t be demon possessed. I just don’t by in the defense the devil made me do it the case mentioned in the original post. It seems a little too convenient.
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