![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/Satan25.jpg\")
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A California man who injured three Hmong men
\n in a fight must pay their medical bills including more than $6,000 for
\n animals and herbal medicines used in traditional healing ceremonies,
\n a court has ruled.<\/p>\n
Chad Wilson Keichler pleaded no contest to civil rights violations for
\n uttering racial slurs against the Asian men during the brawl in Butte,
\n California, and was ordered by a trial court to reimburse them for their
\n medical expenses.<\/p>\n
In addition to submitting hospital and doctor bills, the men turned in
\n receipts for herbal medicines and cows, pigs and chickens slaughtered in
\n Hmong "spirit-calling ceremonies."<\/p>\n
Keichler opposed making restitution for the nonmedical expenses, but a
\n California appeals court on Wednesday ruled that he should pay because
\n the ceremony is the equivalent of Western psychotherapy.<\/p>\n
In a letter to the court, victim Xiong Xeng Moua explained: "In my
\n culture, one way of helping a person who has been traumatized … is to
\n hold a traditional spirit calling to call my spirit back to me."<\/p>\n
An expert testified that the Hmong people believe that a person who is
\n attacked may lose one of his many souls and become ill.<\/p>\n
The expert said the souls of animals killed during the spirit-calling ceremony
\n are called on to replace the victim’s lost soul. The animals are then eaten
\n by attendees as part of the ceremony.<\/p>\n
There are those who claim the Dowbrigade lost his soul long ago, from painting by Goya<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A California man who injured three Hmong men in a fight must pay their medical bills including more than $6,000 for animals and herbal medicines used in traditional healing ceremonies, a court has ruled. Chad Wilson … Continue reading
\n but this Hmong animal sacrifice soul-replacement ceremony sounds like
\n just
\n the trick to get it back. And it all ends in a Barbeque!<\/em><\/p>\n
\n Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n