Three charged in San Jose church exorcism case will stand trial
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — Three family members will stand trial for the death of Arely Naomi Proctor, a 3-year-old girl who was killed inside a San Jose church during a disturbing exorcism ritual.
Santa Clara County Judge Hanley Chew recently ruled that prosecutors have enough evidence for the trio to stand trial for assault on a child causing death.
The defendants are Arely’s mother, Claudia Hernandez, 26; uncle, Rene “Aaron” Hernandez Santos, 20; and grandfather, Rene Trigueros Hernandez, 60. They appeared in court Monday for arraignment before returning to jail without bail.
Prosecutors said the three family members performed a tortuous exorcism to cast a “demon” out from the little girl on Sept. 24, 2021. For hours, the family members squeezed Arely, choked her, and tried to induce vomiting on the Pentecostal church’s altar, prosecutors said.
“Over the course of approximately twenty hours … Arely Doe fought for her life as three trusted adults forcibly grabbed her by the neck. While this assault was ongoing, Arely struggled to escape from her abusers,” Deputy District Attorney Rebekah Wise wrote in court documents.
Arely died inside the church, Iglesia Apostoles y Profetas, where Rene is a pastor.
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Claudia told a police lieutenant that her daughter was possessed, court documents show. When asked about why her daughter died, Claudia replied that God “took” Arely because she was not meant to be a mother, and she accepted “God’s plan.”
The judge’s ruling follows a preliminary hearing held in April.
For the hearing, a coroner testified that Arely’s cause of death was a combination of mechanical asphyxia and smothering. Her injuries included brain swelling, blood in the lungs, marks on the neck, and injuries inside the mouth.
Before making his ruling, Judge Chew viewed hours of San Jose Police Department officers’ body camera videos, police interrogations recorded at the police station, and photographs of the crime scene.
During one police interrogation, Aaron said he can speak in tongues and has gifts from God.
Aaron talked about “multiple gifts he believes God has given him. These gifts include the ability to speak in tongues, the gift to heal, the gift to interpret tongues, the gift of seeing visions, and the gifts of reprimanding,” court documents state. “Arely’s death made him question his gift to heal.”
Aaron told police that Claudia most likely delivered the fatal blow by grabbing Arely’s neck, court documents show. Like the girl’s mother and grandfather, Aaron also believed that the girl was possessed, he told police.
Rene was also interrogated by police. He told investigators that his daughter had told him Arely “was not a normal girl.” He said when he arrived at the church, Arely was still alive. But Claudia told him “the girl was going to die,” court documents state.
Prosecutors told Judge Chew that preliminary hearing testimony provided ample evidence for the case to move forward to trial.
Claudia’s defense attorney told the judge, “A critical issue in this case is intentional vs. unintentional. Intent is at the heart of this case. All three defendants said they had no intent to hurt Arely.”
In his ruling, the judge sided with prosecutors. Claudia, Aaron, and Rene will return to the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice on August 14 to set a date for their trial. If convicted, they could face life prison sentences.
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