CAMP VERDE, Ariz. — An attorney for a self-help guru says prosecutors failed to consider environmental factors before charging his client in the deaths of three people at an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony.
Luis Li disputed prosecutors' contentions Tuesday that James Arthur Ray conditioned dozens of people to follow him in the October 2009 ceremony.
Li says participation wasn't mandatory and that authorities never followed up on reports that the victims may have had toxins in their system.
Ray is on trial on three counts of manslaughter in the deaths of Kirby Brown of Westtown, N.Y.; James Shore of Milwaukee; and Liz Neuman of Prior Lake, Minn.
Earlier Tuesday, prosecutor Sheila Polk asked jurors to keep in mind the victims' mental state. She says Ray conditioned them over five days to trust him and to put aside their beliefs and common sense in what she referred to as a "heat endurance challenge."