Bishop Josef Stangl granted Father Arnold Renz permission to perform an exorcism according to the Rituale Romanum, but ordered total secrecy. Renz performed the first session on 24 September. Michel began increasingly speaking about "dying to atone for the wayward youth of the day and the apostate priests of the modern church." Her parents stopped consulting doctors at her request and relied solely on the exorcism rites. A total of 67 exorcism sessions, one or two each week lasting up to four hours each, were performed over approximately ten months in 1975 and 1976. Toward the end of her life, Michel began to refuse food. Death On 1 July 1976, Michel died in her home. The autopsy report stated the cause of death as malnutrition and dehydration resulting from almost a year in a state of near starvation while the rites of exorcism were performed. She weighed , suffered broken knees from continuous genuflections, was unable to move without assistance and was reported to have contracted pneumonia. Prosecution After an investigation, the state prosecutor maintained that Michel's death could have been prevented as late as one week before she died. In 1976, the state charged Michel's parents and priests Ernst Alt and Arnold Renz with negligent homicide. The parents were defended by famed Nuremberg trials defense attorney Erich Schmidt-Leichner and the priests' defense counsel were paid by the church. The state recommended that none of the involved parties be jailed; instead, the recommended sentence for the priests was a fine, while the prosecution concluded that the parents should be exempt from punishment as they had "suffered enough," a mitigating legal factor in German penal law (cf. § 60 StGB). Trial The trial began on 30 March 1978 in the district court and drew intense interest. Doctors testified that Michel was not possessed, stating that the manifestations of demonic possession were a psychological effect of her strict religious upbringing as well as her epilepsy. Dr. Richard Roth, whom Alt had consulted for medical help, allegedly told Michel during the exorcism that "there is no injection against the devil, Anneliese." Schmidt-Leichner argued that the exorcism was legal and that the German constitution protected citizens in the unrestricted exercise of their religious beliefs. The defense played tapes recorded at the exorcism sessions, sometimes featuring what was claimed to be "demons arguing" to assert their claim that Michel was possessed. Both priests claimed that