Local exorcist will plead not guilty to battery charges

IU student Edward Uyesugi II, of Paoli, Ind., the man who performed an unauthorized exorcism on a 14-year-old autistic boy in May, will have his initial hearing Friday, Aug. 10. \nUyesugi, 22, was arrested Aug. 1 after turning himself in to authorities, police said. Uyesugi was charged with battery and confinement after he reportedly punched the boy approximately 20 times in his face and stuck his fingers down the boy’s throat, causing him to vomit.\nThe exorcism was denounced by Cherry Hill Church Ministries, the church where Uyesugi was a pastor-in-training. Uyesugi was asked to resign his membership in the church. \nUyesugi’s bond was set at $5,000 surety plus $500 cash. Monroe County Jail staff said Uyesugi was booked at 12:30 p.m., Aug. 1, and released at 1:48 p.m. the same day.\nMatt Blanton, Uyesugi’s attorney, said he will plead not guilty to the charges.\nBlanton said Uyesugi is still an IU student and is expected to graduate in December.\nBloomington is not the only city that has been in the news recently for a controversial exorcism.\nPhoenix police officer Sgt. Joel Tranter said he received a phone call July 28 about a possible exorcism in a residential home. When officers arrived on the scene, they heard a 3-year-old girl crying in a bedroom of the house. The door to the room was barricaded by a bed, Tranter said.\nAfter officers pried the door open, they witnessed Ronald Marquez, 49, choking the girl on a bed. The girl’s 19-year-old mother was standing alongside the bed chanting, naked and covered in blood, Tranter said.\nOfficers had to use a stun gun to force Marquez, the girl’s \ngrandfather, off of her. Marquez had to be stunned two additional times before officers were able to take him into custody. Shortly after being taken in, Marquez stopped breathing and died later that night at the hospital. \nTranter said the family believed there were demons inside the home. He said the family was “very religious” and superstitious.\nThe girl was taken to a children’s hospital and then transported to Child Protective Services. The girl’s mother was taken to the hospital for facial injuries, Tranter said.\nPolice are still investigating the matter, and no arrests have been made.\nCandy Brown, an IU associate professor in the department of religious studies, said the idea of exorcism stems from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament and as way to cast out demons from the sick or insane. She said the technical term is “deliverance.”\nBrown said a true exorcism is never violent. One must love the possessed person and figure out how the demon entered them in the first place, she said. \nShe said the instances in Bloomington and Phoenix are atypical of authorized exorcism.\nBrown said true exorcisms consist of prayer, oil and maybe a single hand on the possessed person’s head or shoulder, but nothing forceful. However, she said some exorcisms stray from such procedures. \n“(People) do all sorts of things out of the name of religion,” Brown said.