“A federal jury in Central Islip, N.Y., Tuesday swiftly rejected the claim of a former Long Island public school teacher that she had been fired because of false accusations that she was a witch. After a five-day trial, the seven-member Eastern District of New York jury deliberated about a hour before rejecting all of Lauren Berrios’ allegations against the Hampton Bays School District and her demand for millions in damages…”

Contributing to her loss was the fact that five witnesses who came forward to testify on Berrios’s behalf came too late in the case to be admitted, and were not allowed by the judge to testify. The judge also voiced concerns that you can’t file a claim of religious discrimination for a “perceived” faith.

“Wexler noted that while the federal civil rights statute “provides for a cause of action for those discriminated against on account of their religious beliefs, it makes no specific provision including those who are ‘perceived’ to belong to a particular religion as falling within a protected class.” … Berrios had insisted that she was not an adherent of Wicca. Ironically, Wexler pointed out in a footnote that self-professed witches are protected by the law’s “broad” definition of religious belief.”

During the trial, the school district claimed Berrios had “serious pre-existing mental health issues”, a claim that was echoed by an anonymous commenter on my blog.

“Lauren Berrios is a woman with severe mental problems. It’s not the point whether or not she is a witch or people thought she was a witch. Everyone in this case admits and knows she is not a witch. The point is that she was fired becuase she made up stories about her son cutting off his fingers and her husband being in a plane crash. She also made up the stories that people thought she was a witch … She deserved to be fired for being mentally unstable.”

On the same comments thread two current students and a current colleague posted defenses of Berrios as a good and professional teacher. Which brings up two competing narratives. Is Berrios a good teacher who was run out of a predominately Christian school due to rumors of witchcraft (and perhaps mental illness), or is Berrios a mentally unbalanced woman who said inappropriate things to her students? It is not known if Berrios will appeal the verdict and try to get the new witnesses rejected from this trial heard.
]]> http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/03/accused-witch-loses-case.html/feed 0 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/03/sorry-we-thought-you-were-witch.html http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/03/sorry-we-thought-you-were-witch.html#comments Tue, 06 Mar 2007 14:42:00 +0000 Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/03/sorry-we-thought-you-were-a-witch.html The Repository in Canton, Ohio reports on a teacher who is suing The Hampton Bays school district in Long Island, N.Y for firing her because they believed she was a Witch. Lauren Berrios, who is Jewish, claims that rumors of witchcraft started circulating when she didn’t attend Christian services that she was invited to.

“In 2001, Lauren Berrios filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Central Islip saying she was fired because co-workers wrongly believed she was a witch. Berrios is Jewish and said the witchcraft rumors surfaced because she turned down invitations to attend Christian services. The accusations intensified after a fifth-grade reading lesson on the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when Berrios mentioned the Salem witch trials in a historical context, said her lawyer, John Ray.”

The school claims that the firing was due to poor performance, but this doesn’t seem to add up with reports on Berrios’s performance at her new job in Atlanta where she was voted teacher of the month. Berrios’s attorney also claims to have some fairly concrete evidence proving that the school thought she was a Witch.

“Ray said he has strong evidence to prove Berrios was fired amid religious hysteria. He said he plans to call former principal Andrew Albano as a witness. Ray said he will read testimony into the court record of Albano saying during a deposition that he believed Berrios practiced witchcraft. Albano could not be reached Monday.”

If Berrios wins this case (the suit is for 2 million dollars), it could act as a strong deterrent against future arbitrary firings due to a perceived adherence to a modern Pagan faith. Her experience mirrors many modern Pagans who are in the “broom closet” due to working in places with a predominately Christian staff (or clientele), and who fear the effects of the “rumor mill” on their livelihood. Opening statements for the case are scheduled for Wednesday.
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