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A new true crime documentary is coming to Netflix – and it tells the real-life story of the trial that inspired The Conjuring 3. The Devil on Trial, releasing on the platform this October, will tell the story of the first and only time demonic possession has officially been used as a defense in a US murder trial.
In Connecticut in 1981, 19-year-old Arne Cheyenne Johnson claimed that he murdered his landlord Alan Bono while under the influence of demonic forces. Testimonies given in court said that Johnson became possessed while attending the exorcism of his girlfriend's younger brother, David Glatzel. The judge didn't accept Johnson's defense and he was convicted of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 10-20 years in prison, but he was released after five.
According to Netflix, the new documentary is "the first time many of the subjects directly involved in the events are telling their stories, sparking a new conversation about what happens when assumptions about reality are in direct conflict with strongly held beliefs."
The case was the inspiration for the plot of 2021's The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, with Ruairi O'Connor playing Johnson. In real life, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren also investigated the case and performed the exorcism on David, as they do in the movie, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.
