US self-help guru guilty over 'sweat lodge' deaths

A US self-help guru was convicted of negligent homicide Wednesday over the deaths of three people at an Arizona "sweat lodge" ceremony in 2009, a court official said. James Ray was found not guilty of the more serious charges of manslaughter over the deaths, which occurred after 60 people were packed into a sweat lodge for two hours after a 36-hour fast. The well-known motivational speaker "was convicted of negligent homicide" on three counts, court clerk Sandra Markham of the Superior Court for Yavapai County, Arizona, told AFP. The 60 participants paid Ray $9,000 each in October, 2009 for a spiritual retreat near Sedona in northern Arizona, in which participants could sweat out their worries in an enclosure where hot rocks were placed inside a tent. Three people died and 19 were taken to hospital. The dead were named as Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, New York; Liz Neuman, 49, of Prior Lake, Minnesota; and James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Best-selling author Ray, president of the multi-million-dollar James Ray International company in California, was arrested in February 2010 close to the retreat where the fatal ceremony was held.