In February 1981 , in a definitive New England township in southwest Connecticut , 19 - year - old Arne Johnson place upright accused of murder . According to authorities , Johnson argued with , thenkilled , Alan Bono , the manager of a local dog dog house after a mean solar day of drinking . Johnson prod Bono at least four times in the chest and tum . None of that was disputed .
In the dandy American consciousness at that sentence , whenmurder rates were spike across the U.S. , another kill would normally have just registered — even in a quiet town like Brookfield , which is about 60 mile ( 97 kilometers ) north of New York City . But in an dauntless burst of legal aspiration , Johnson ’s attorney shove the guinea pig into global headline with a fresh defense that would father thousands of frenzied media chronicle , books , TV show , flick and sempiternal religious argument .
Johnson , his lawyerMartin Minnellaargued , did n’t kill 40 - year - onetime Alan Bono that chilly day . The Old Nick did .
" This was a mind - blowing defense on Marty ’s part , " the sometimes - controversial Connecticut trial lawyerNorm Pattissays now , with not a little degree of awe and admiration . " But … I do n’t bed . If I ’d have give good money for the DoD , and my lawyer nonplus up and say , ' The devil made him do it , ' I ’d be thinking , ' That ’s not the only thing the devil did ; he made me compensate you salutary money , too . Give me my money back . ' "
Pinning It on the Devil
Minnella ’s defense was n’t conjure , as it were , out of smoky , sulfuric air . A whole legion of people claimed to recognise of a mysterious , evil presence in the expanse almost a year before Bono ’s murder . One of them was Johnson ’s girlfriend , Debbie Glatzel .
fundamental to this part of the story were two localparanormal police detective , Ed and Lorraine Warren . Months before Bono ’s violent death , they had been contacted by Debbie Glatzel ’s mother , Judy , who take that her 12 - year - old son , David , was possessed by demons . It was something , the Glatzels claimed , was flat out of " The exorciser . "
They told The Washington Postat the time that boy ’s face was wring when " The Beast " — the name the family call the demon — overtook him ; he scream obscenities ; chair flew through the air ; helping hand fumble at family appendage through the floor . They start out log Z’s during the twenty-four hours to prepare for the long nights with David .
The family meet the local episcopate and the police . No non-Christian priest was allow to perform a formalexorcismbecause the bishop of Bridgeport would not authorise one . But the Warrens did superintend several lesser religious rite of exorcism on David to " expel " the daimon . And during one ceremony , evidently , Johnson implored the devil to leave David alone and live his organic structure instead .
accord to many involved , the Prince of Darkness took Johnson up on his whirl , and soon after , Johnson vote down Bono .
Legal Strategy or PR Move?
The Warrens , who admit before the visitation that the case would be good for their business as " demonologists , " bed they had something as presently as they find out of the initial self-command . " I felt like a ripe fisher when he get laid there ’s something on the line , " Ed Warren toldThe Washington Postin 1981 .
count the ream of physical grounds against his client and the pie-eyed sentence that he confront if found guilty , Minella may have determined that prove to finger Satan for the stabbing was worth any risk of infection . " I could put the Roman Catholic Pope on , and he ’d tell you that if a guy is demonically possess , he is not creditworthy , " Minnella toldThe Post .
And so , in November 1981 , military press from all over the humanity descend on Connecticut for the trial . Scripture were planned and finally written ( " The Devil in Connecticut " ) , and a 1983 TV moving-picture show was churned out ( " The Demon Murder Case " ) star Kevin Bacon as a possessed boy who commits murder and Andy Griffith as a demonologist .
Almost lost in these level — then and since — was the fortune of young Arne Cheyenne Johnson . He face a jury trial in which his future tense hinge largely on his attorney convert the court , not only of the existence of the Lucifer , but also that the devil worked through him to kill Alan Bono .
Over the year , more has been made of the supposed possession than of the trial , for a simple reason . Before the trial begin , Judge Robert J. Callahandenied Minnella ’s attemptto apply " demonic possession " as a defense . The judge also refuse to get Minnella call any priest to the bandstand . And he carefully limited what " demonologist " Ed Warren could say in Johnson ’s defence .
Ultimately , the " devil made me do it " defensenever even made it to court . Much of the assembled insistency leave before a verdict was harbinger . TheHartford Courant reportedthat prosecutor Walter Flanagan lay claim Johnson killed Bono because he made an unsavory gossip about Johnson ’s girlfriend Debbie . Nothing more .
After the defence reaction rest , the jury deliberated about 17 hours over three daytime , the Courant reported , before finding Johnson guilty of manslaughter . Minnella said he would invoke .
Johnson was sentenced to 10 to 20 year in prison . He served just over four . Minnella never charge for that appeal . In the year since , entire film franchises have been set in motion around this story , include " The Conjuring " serial publication , culminate with 2021 ’s " The Conjuring : The Devil Made Me Do It , " starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the Warrens .
Dancing With the Devil Defense
Minnella still practices police force in Connecticut and , as he state the Courant , is ask on a regular basis about the Johnson murder case .
" If you believe in God , you ’ve got ta believe in the devil , " Minnellatold the Courantin 2014 , " and what I saw in Arne as a unseasoned guy has profoundly bear on me the relief of my life . There ’s a lot of crazy masses out there that have touch me to represent them with the same idea , ' The devil made me do it . ' But our sheath was based on fact , not fabrication . "
Pattis , a pardner in a law of nature business firm in New Haven , remains always on the lookout for high - profile execution cases of his own to take to trial . He openly ( if somewhat jokingly ) admit to being " professionally overjealous " of Minnella ’s attempt to use a defense so basal that it reverberates some four X after the case was decided .
The " infernal ownership " defence was quashed . The questions were not .
" Question : Is there a Prince of Darkness ? Are there in reality evil purport ? And does the devil and iniquity , or do the devil and malign spirits , possess people and overtake their will ? " Pattis ask now . " A lot of people think that . But I just ca n’t imagine a justice ever permitting that to get to a panel .
" But having said that , you know , it ’s like a wakeless cultural challenge . The churches still remain heart-to-heart . masses go . They implore to God and they revere the devil . Do n’t secernate them they ’re fearing something that does n’t subsist . So why should n’t it be admissible ? "
