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September 7, 2007

Attleboro sect leader appealing murder conviction

BOSTON, Mass. -- After Jacques Robidoux was charged with murder in the starvation death of his infant son, he refused to be examined by a psychotherapist, citing his belief that modern medicine was one of Satan’s “counterfeit systems.”

Robidoux, who was a leader of an Attleboro religious sect that rejected modern medicine, said he believed he was fulfilling God’s prophesy and expected a miracle as he watched his 11-month-old infant son starve to death.

Now, Robidoux is appealing his murder conviction, claiming he was mentally ill and his former lawyer should have used an insanity defense. The state Supreme Judicial Court is scheduled to hear Robidoux’s appeal today.

Robidoux is asking the high court to grant him a new trial or reduce his conviction from first-degree murder to assault and battery or manslaughter.

Robidoux, 34, was one of the leaders of the small sect. The group started as a Bible study group of two large extended families based in southeastern Massachusetts, but it developed into a sect with strict controls on its followers. Members of the sect rejected modern institutions, including the medical establishment, public education, the legal system.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 12:05 PM | Permalink

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