A black mother faces up to 45 years in jail after being found guilty of killing her son in a botched exorcism

Latisha Lawson, 31, forced her two-year-old son Jezaih to drink a vile mixture of olive oil and vinegar as part of a ritual to drive the Devil from his body. As he choked on the liquid she held her hand over his mouth to stop him vomiting and crushed his neck. Jurors heard that Lawson had wanted to drive a demon called "Marzon" from her son's body. She had become convinced that her son was possessed and blamed herself because she did not profess her love for God while she was pregnant. Lawson and another woman, who also believed her children were possessed, fed the mixture to four children at their home. Three of the children immediately vomited up the mixture, but Lawson held her hand over her son's mouth to keep the liquid down. An autopsy ruled that he had died from having his neck compressed. Police said that Lawson kept Jezaih's body in a plastic sack for more than a year after his November 2009 death until she was arrested on December 21, 2010. Lawson told jurors that she was convinced her son was possessed by demons as his behavior had changed. She said that she kept her son's body as she was convinced her son would be resurrected after his death. Lawson was convicted of murder as well as charges of neglect and battery of her four year old daughter. She faces at least 45 years in prison when she is sentenced.