15141: Edouard:Voodoo Defense (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Felix Edouard <loveayiti@hotmail.com>


Farmworker Blames Murder on Voodoo Hex



Tuesday March 11, 2003 6:10 PM


ALBANY, Ga. (AP) - A Haitian immigrant farmworker told a judge he killed one
man and wounded two others because he believed they had placed a voodoo hex
on him.

Reynold Calixte, 43, pleaded guilty but mentally ill last week to murder and
aggravated assault and was sentenced to life in prison.

Calixte shot Stephen Dameus, cut his throat and stabbed him in the chest in
a motel in 2001. He also attacked two men he believed helped Dameus,
shooting one in the foot and the other in the abdomen.

Calixte believed Dameus had put a fatal hex on him by sprinkling black
powder on his bus seat, shoes and pillow, prosecutor Gregory Edwards said.

Defense attorney Willie Weaver said Calixte thought the only way to save his
life was to kill Dameus. He did not have enough money to return to Haiti and
see a witch doctor to lift the curse, the lawyer said.

Calixte cut his own throat during the attack and asked officers to kill him
when they arrived.





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